Conceptual nominee

With one hand on her pregnant belly and the other hand on nature, with roots and water at her feet, I created MOTHER NATURE. I had fun making a bra and knickers with vines and the model gave birth the very next day. She wasn't due yet and we still joke that the photo shoot brought her labour on. I had driven past this fabulous location where the paperbark trees grow wild from the fresh water beneath and was inspired by such a natural scene to shoot something so natural as a pregnant mother.

Thomsens Photographic Gallery was established in Maryborough, Queensland, Australia by my parents Narelle and Wilson Thomsen, in 1970. They left the farming life to pursue their passion for photographing people and telling stories with images, created through the lens and brought to life in Dad’s darkroom. I grew up in the back of the studio before and after school, unknowlingly picking up the people skills it took to offer clients such a personalised experience as having a portrait taken. I learned classic posing and composition from my elegant and artistic Mum and available light and studio techniques from my talented Dad. Watching the paper go from the big enlarger, to the developer, then fixer tray was one of my favourite childhood memories.

After school, I worked at a professional lab, making prints on huge machines from medium format 120 & 35mm negatives and learning the chemical side. In 1995 I joined my parents business and was presented with my very first Hasselblad, an 80mm & 150 mm lens and a light meter.

My parents retired in 2007 after going digital in 2005 and I have continued this 47 year family business alone since then with pride.