Retrospective – An Exhibition of Contemporary Photography by Four Local Photographers

Collective 25, a group of five local photographers and artists, are staging another exhibition at The Old Fire station in Kiama from the 4th to 9th April. The photographers are Rowan Hollingworth; Olga Baldock, who are Kiama residents and Geraldine; Brian Lefoe, who are Wollongong based. Di Goodman is an artist; photographer based in Kiama.

Their works display a wide range of styles from traditional to more contemporary, with an emphasis on using the photography medium to go beyond the record shot to create works which are expressionistic, creative, emotive, interpretative and abstract.

Olga Baldock uses her camera as her canvas, using a combination of settings, together with shutter speeds and lenses to create her images. She frequently uses an in-camera multiple exposure technique to produce images, which are one off and can never be repeated. She has recently branched out into multimedia works including collage & gelli pad printing.

One of Rowan Hollingworth’s favourite themes is flowers, ranging from straight, yet sometimes surreal images, to almost abstract close-up images to composite images constructed in Photoshop. Other themes are the lichens, rocks and seas around Kiama, the lotus flowers leaves & Koi in the lotus pond at the Nan Tien Temple & landscapes he takes on his travels. Rowan also gets a great deal of enjoyment using Photoshop to composit multiple photographs to create abstract images.

Geraldine Lefoe is a well-known figure on the beaches of Wollongong in the early mornings. She uses natural light to capture magical moments through anticipation and timing. To do this she often use the techniques of ICM – Intentional Camera Movement, which can produce blurred images with a mystical feeling. She constantly chases the changing light and varying moods of the ocean. Her work embodies an expressionistic style as she harnesses the relationship between people and the environment.

Brian Lefoe mainly creates more traditional landscape photographs, particularly striking black and white images. His colour landscape photographs often tend towards the almost abstract. His landscapes in the exhibition ranged from waterfalls in Tasmania to the Sahara Desert in Morocco to autumn scenes in Japan. He also likes to work in Photoshop to produce images with a geometric element to them.

Diane Goodman is a Kiama artist and photographer who has practiced, exhibited and taught visual arts and photography for over 30 years. In recent years her artistic practice has evolved from manipulating and painting photographic images in Photoshop to exploring traditional mediums such as watercolour, acrylics, and oils. This shift allows her to blend her experience with both the fluidity of photographic capture and the precision of digital processes with the tactile nature of traditional media, creating a unique approach to both representation and expression. Photography plays a central role in her practice, capturing the natural environments she encounters and revisits. These images serve as starting points, but the true essence of her work emerges in the studio, where she weaves together memory, emotion, and research. By revisiting familiar landscapes and moments, she is able to reflect on not only the environments and the creatures that inhabit them, but also the multiple layers of experience and meaning that they hold for her.

Collective 25 Exhibition

4th - 9th April 2025

Old Fire Station, Kiama, 10am to 4pm.