My family moved to Sydney when I was 16, and it seems I was always the girl with the camera in her hand. Or making things.
Sydney is my home now, but Melbourne was home for 9 years before the pandemic began. It feels like I’ve lived a thousand lives to get here. And I’ve just turned 40.
My passport features stamps from across the globe. Morocco, Oman, Qatar and the USA are among some of the places where I’ve lived and worked.
Oh, I could tell you tales of these faraway places. Of the circumstances that led me there. The rich cultural and artistic tapestries that nurtured me as I curiously navigated foreign lands. Hardships. Coming home. It has all shaped me to curate particularly with my eye.
I love imagery and colour. Since I was a child I collected and curated, scrapbooked and created. I now have refined my skills through the art of a lens and provide my artistic eye for capturing many frames.
I’m also a tertiary educated designer and maker, with over 13 years’ experience as a professional photographer.
Before Z by Zahrah came to be, my former partner and I ran a wedding photography business. To be honest, we looked through the lens differently. By the end it felt like my colour and confidence had drained away. That I was hiding who I really was. Then ZbyZahrah was born.
So who am I? Take a look at my shots. I’m a colourful, vibrant artist with technical know-how and kick-arse composition (phew, it’s taken a lot of personal development to say that out loud).
I just instinctively know what makes a shot work – its style, an angle, the details. Many modern-day photographers miss this stuff. Because I am also a designer and maker – jewellery and textured art – I innately understand how things go together, where products or people should be placed.
I’ve always been drawn to shape and form. Most of the classics I admire are big on texture, edges or colour; Georgia O Keeffe, Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry, Franz Marc and Grace Cossington-Smith, for example. Then there’s Edward Weston, who found sensual beauty in the everyday.
It gives me such joy to capture candid everyday moments and the bold celebratory occasions. Whatever the context, I’m always friendly and cucumber cool – whether I’m wrangling rowdy kids, calming nervous brides or guiding timid business people.
So, here I am. Z is me. Made by Zahrah. That means I get to take the best shots of you and yours.