Arts
FOCUS ON feeling By Andrea Louise Thomas Photos Gary Sissons & Elizabeth Clancy
F
or Shoreham photographer Elizabeth Clancy, great photography is as much about feeling as is about technical skill. “I want my work to evoke some kind of emotion,” she says. Whether it’s a moody moonlit landscape or an intimate family portrait, she wants more than just a great image. “I hope that when people see my work, they see more each time they look at it.” Seeing and feeling have always gone hand in hand for Liz. From primary school age, she wanted to record the things and places and people that meant something to her. Her older sister taught her how to use their Dad’s single lens reflex camera and, from then on, she saw life through the viewfinder. When Liz was studying arts at high school, photography was part of the program. Then, photographs were shot on film and processed in a darkroom. She loved the surprise element of working with film. It wasn’t until the whole roll was shot, the film was developed, and the print emerged from the chemicals and onto the paper that one could see what was there. It was exciting.
E ssence
26 | PENINSULA
November 2020
In her gap year, Liz decided to go travelling. When she got back, she started a law degree at Monash University, but decided it wasn’t for her. She refocused her arts degree, deciding on a major in history and a minor in art history. Meanwhile, she took short courses in photography as that interest was always percolating. After university, she went to London and worked a corporate job in human resources. London was a launching pad for travel and a rich landscape for photography and meeting interesting people. In fact, she met her husband to be, Ed, a British journalist, while working in London. When Ed went on a cycling trip around the world, Liz returned to Melbourne. They met up again in Dublin where they lived and worked for a year before they both decided to live in Liz’s native Melbourne. Then she took up formal studies in photography completing a Diploma of Applied Photography. She had her first solo exhibition in 2003.