scenestr contributor Stephen Sloggett tells us how he captured Taking Cover, the winner of the Open category at this year's Lord Mayor's Photographic Awards.
"It happened last year at the Harvest Festival," he remembers. "Cake had just finished their set, and I got the heads up that there was a storm coming. I ran around to a couple of the stalls there and grabbed three plastic bags so I could cover my camera up. Then the announcement came over that the festival had to be evacuated because of the lightning strikes. I just made my way out, but all the shelter spaces were completely packed, so I was kind of left out in the elements.
"I decided to just take photos, and I still had my settings on reasonably fast, with a high shutter speed and low aperture. It was pretty much one shot... as a photographer, you kind of know. I kind of knew that I had something, so I looked through the plastic bag and I was like, 'wow, that's awesome'. Then I just ran to go find cover somewhere."
Stephen was well rewarded for his troubles, taking home the Lord Mayor's Photography Award and its attendant perks.
"The Grand Prize was $10,000, which is excellent," he smiles. "A 3m x 3m banner was also produced, which is currently being shown in King George Square next to the Youth Category [Scott Howe's Early Morning Commute] and People's Choice [Margot Taylor's Soaking Up Sunshine] winners. They're both fantastic photos. The Brisbane Museum is also going to be displaying my photo, so that's awesome.
"I purchased a new Macbook this morning, and I've bought a few other bits and pieces. Camera equipment, a couple more lenses, paid off some debts. I'm getting all my gear up to scratch and then saving the rest for a trip over to Sri Lanka and India. I'm going to Sri Lanka first, because some friends have teamed me up with a guy over there who does a lot of photography for their tourism board... we're going to have a photo adventure. Then I'm going to India, and I'm going to be covering four punk bands that live and play in and around India."
The trip abroad will be the latest step in an unlikely journey for the photographer, who's only been plying his trade for a few short years.
"I've been properly doing photography now for just under five years. The defining point came when my former girlfriend, who used to work for triple j's Hack, and I went up to Mt Isa for a week. I was using her old SLR camera; a friend of mine gave me a couple rolls of film. I photographed a few things, and had a really eye-opening week. At the Mt Isa Lookout, I saw this beautiful moment between two mothers and their children. They looked so happy and content, and I just picked up the camera and took a photo of it.
"We got back to Brisbane, and my girlfriend at the time nicked off with the film and got it developed. I came home and she said, 'you should take a look at these, Steve, you've done some amazing stuff here'. With her backing and support behind me, it really kicked my arse into gear. I really should have done photography in high school, but as life turns out, I didn't. I've been trying really hard with it ever since.
"About three years ago, I approached Gareth Bryant at Scene Magazine [Scenestr's sister publication] and asked if I could photograph some stuff for Scene. It's been a beautiful relationship ever since."
