These photos are from my Cultural Photo Shoot with Aboriginal model and poet, Guyala Bayles.
I was inspired to do cultural photo shoots with indigenous people in Australia following my work photographing tribes in the Amazon rainforest of Peru. I was drawn to photographing the tribes of the Amazon because of their rich traditional culture. For many of those tribes, elements of their culture are disappearing as we speak, because of many influences and threats (which you can read about in past posts).
The traditional culture of indigenous groups in Australia has also suffered terribly, for different reasons – namely colonisation and governments policies, among others. When I returned from living in South and Central America for 3 years, I was drawn to learn more about Australia’s traditional custodians. The history is so deep, rich and complex that I could spend my entire life learning. Yet already, through my own research I’ve come to appreciate so much about Aboriginal culture. And I know there is a lot of wisdom there that everyone can learn from.
Previously I had worked with Guyala (Lala) on a model portfolio shoot. When Lala contacted me about doing a second shoot together I asked her if she’d be interested in doing a cultural shoot, as well as film one of her powerful poems. She jumped at both ideas.
Lala’s Aboriginality and culture are very important to her and fighting for her rights is something she has devoted herself to. I think that her graceful strength comes through in these portraits.
For the shoot we met at her childhood home near Kempsey. Her mum painted her up and I found a simple background (a concrete water tank) to shoot in front of. With my favourite new portable lighting setup we captured a series of frames. I took them home for post production.
I love the contrast and mood created by the combination of Lala’s pose and expression with the lighting.
If you’re interested in a cultural photo shoot for yourself or your family please get in touch. I’d love to create beautiful images to represent your family, history, culture and pride.
To see another cultural photo shoot I’ve done, visit here
To watch my video of Lala reciting one of her amazing poems, visit here
