Judith Breedon is one of our great local Photographers whose work may be seen on her website - Escape Photo Gallery: escapephotogallery.com with shots available for purchase for your own home.
These are truly spectacular captures and celebrations of our area where familiar scenes take on exceptional qualities and capture that big sky or even the small patterns found in sand. The essence of dawn and later afternoon light is palpable in her focus on Mona Vale and Narrabeen pools, her bird's eye views of our coastal landscapes sharp, clear and pristine.
For June 2021 Pittwater Online has the privilege to share some of her wonderful images, as exhibited below, but first, a little about the Artist herself and where this passion for photography began.
About Judith
Since I was young I have always had an interest in photography. My first camera was a hand-me-down film camera from my father with a good quality Leica lens and I needed a hand-held light meter to tell me how to set it manually. This gave me an appreciation of ambient lighting, aperture settings and shutter speeds. In High School I took Photography as an elective in Year 11 and learnt how to develop and print from film. How times have changed!
Growing up in the UK, family holidays were always spent down on the South Coast – Hampshire, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall. I was mesmerised by the ocean, the beaches and the different tones of the cliffs and sand. My photographs have faded over the years, but the memories of those villages and coastal towns remain as vivid as ever.
At 21, I bought myself a Pentax camera to travel in the U.S. The world suddenly opened up to me and my passion for photographing landscapes combined with my inquisitive nature fuelled my desire to understand and capture the natural world around us.
I love the way that technology is developing exponentially to enhance our lives. In photography, digital cameras are becoming more and more sophisticated. We bought our first digital camera about 20 years ago and used it to record a holiday on our sailing boat. It was a game changer from having to get the film developed!
I have since used Nikon cameras for the last 10 years and different lenses depending on the subject I am shooting. It can extremely frustrating, trying to capture birds in flight, for example. I have learnt, however, that patience is the key! I have also started learning to fly my drone. Aerial photographs give a totally different perspective and there are some beautiful parts of the coastline to explore.
I now live on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, with my husband and grown-up daughters, and am Head of the Science faculty at St Luke’s Grammar School. My passion for photography is ingrained and I enjoy spending much of my free time either by the lake or the beach and on the many rock platforms at sunrise or sunset for the golden hour.
The general public are welcome to contact me via the website or via my Instagram escape_photo_gallery if anyone would like to purchase one of the photos. I can send the high resolution digital image or arrange for printing on canvas, acrylic etc. Prices will vary accordingly for print orders.
We are planning to explore more of this great country in our caravan and I will update the website regularly with blogs of our travels if anyone is interested and would like to follow our journey.
Escape Photo Gallery: escapephotogallery.com
Judith Breedon
