End frame: A Sudden Squall, The Stirling Falls, Milford Sound, New Zealand by Jem Southam

Lloyd Edwards

 I’m a Sydney based some-time (but persistent) photographer with a deep regard for the New Zealand coastline, forest, sub-alpine and alpine environment. 

I first learned of the work of Jem Southam in 2015, via my subscription to On Landscape. The archive of talks held by the magazine offers a wealth of knowledge and insight into the technique and practice of photography and is a wonderful resource for accessing the creative process and absorbing the unique perspective, philosophy and approach of a spectrum of wonderful photographers.

Jem Southam’s talk from 2013 and my subsequent viewing of his body of work was a major revelation to me and continues to inform my practice of and approach to photography.  For example, and quite coincidentally, I have been returning every year for five days to the same spot in the mountains of the Southern Alps of New Zealand, to a little known place called Temple Basin. ‘Temple’ is a unique subject, It is a ski lodge set half way up a mountain in Arthurs Pass National Park. Temple is a small private club field and is the only such field to be permitted in a National Park in New Zealand. I am now ten years into documenting the environment at this location and Jem’s talk has greatly informed my approach to creating a body of work over time about this place.