Leith Alexander

- We can just start off easy. So just tell us a little about yourself and your photographic or arts practise.

- Okay. Well, I'm Leith. I'm from a sheep farm on the outskirts of a really small town in the Wheatbelt in W.A. it's called Narrogin. So my background is mainly in sound. I started my photography practise last year when I did my first series called SHEAR, which was about sheep shearers and rouseabouts and wool pressers in WA.

- Yeah, cool, so like I'm connected with your photo as well 'cause I am from sheep country in Goulburn as well. So I have shone sheep and worked in the wool shirts and stuffing clothes already.

- Oh! Right.

- So I was like, oh cool. Like country chick.

- Yeah, cool. So you did some rouseabouting?

- Yeah, and I mean, it was a long time ago, but like I was like, man shearers have changed since then.

- Yeah, well I think actually we've got our specific breed of shearers over here because when I did live in new south Wales for a while, I've had the idea of shooting shearers for a few years and I went around and had a look at some shearers in new south Wales. And I was looking for the dreadlocks and the mullets, and I was asking where they were. They said, "You've gotta go to WA for that." And I was like, "That's where I'm from." Yeah, so-

- Yeah. The shearers I remember were more like the traditional blue wife beaters, big bellies and plumbers crack, but .

- You still do get that kind of aesthetic. There's definitely that aesthetic as well. I think it's mainly the younger guys that have come in in the past 10,15 years that have got this real punk shearer look.

- So you said this is sort of, you started your photographic practise last year, so is SHEAR your exhibition that the work came from is your first sort of showing?

- Yeah. Yeah. I have doubled in photography over the last few years, but just because I wanted to photograph shearers. So I've played around a little bit. But last year, I found myself living back at the farm. I was in the Pilbara and then when COVID happened, I went back to the farm and I was working from home and applied for a grant to do the shearing project. And that's how I ended up doing it. Got some funding from Regional Arts WA. Yeah.

- [Tara] That's awesome.

- So it was pretty handy timing.

- Yeah, all come together well. So with your photo mullet magic, did you just wanna tell us a little bit about that specific photo and how it came about?

- Yeah, so that photo is of three shearers; Kia, Brad and Mitch. They're all weight belt boys and they all shear around Narrogin. I've known them all for about five years, Brad a little bit longer. So yeah, they've all got slightly varying mullets and they're all quite good friends. They were all working on the same team at a farm just outside of town. And I went out to photograph the team. They were on their lunch break and I'd been photographing them for a while. And then I said, "All right, you three mullet guys come together, come and have a photo." And they were like, Mitch especially was pretty reluctant, but yeah, they let me take photos of them. And that photo mullet magic is when the other shearers were watching and teasing them and yelling and being like, "Show us your guns" and giving them a hard time. And so that's why Mitch is the one in the middle, he's yelling and yeah.

- Yeah, given a bit of lip back by the look of it.

- Yeah! Yeah! They're all quite reluctant to get their photos taken and then once it's happening, they seem to enjoy it and like being able to see it afterwards.

- So you sort of do real storytelling with your photos, like this series of photos and that one, you sorta get the vibe that you're part of the crew, like you're photographing friends in a story you know as well, which I think gives that sort of really like authentic.

- Yeah! Yeah thanks. I guess it is because they do know me and I mean, I did go and photograph shearing sheds but they didn't know me personally, but I think I always give off that vibe of being a country person and I know my way around a shed and that's pretty obvious I think. When I go to photograph shearers, I am at the shed for a few hours. So people, you know, get to relax around me and have lots of chats. But yeah, I did grow up around shearing. So, and you know, those guys know my family and have shot it at my family farm as well. So yeah.

- Awesome! So how are like Kia, Mitch and Brad sort of taking like all the media attention 'cause there was, I mean, your image out of a lot in the exhibition has been shared so many times and internationally and like OSHA made a meme and-

- I know! It's been amazing. I can't thank you guys enough for the amount of publicity it's given us. It's so cool. Like just to have, even just to get into the national portrait prize, like to have a photo of these three shearers in Canberra is really cool. You know, there's three Wheatbelt boys. They've been loving it. We're always like texting in our little group chat. Sharing like where it's been, where the photos have been shared. Kia, he's the youngest. He's really into photos. When I first started taking photos, he just loved it. To be able to have like all these fresh Facebook profile photos all the time. But this is like another level. Yeah, he's been loving it. He did a little interview with our local paper. Yeah. They were really excited. They were really hoping that we'd win the national portrait prize, but you know, it's okay.

- Next time .

- Yeah.

- But it's interesting as well. Like the winning photo by Joel Pratley is also like touching on farmers and regional stories that don't usually get shared, like to that extent. And it was really wonderful, the amount of regional newspapers that shared that image and like people felt like they were seen and their story was getting told.

- Yeah, yeah I think that's really important because I think especially with shearing, that is an industry that doesn't get a lot of consideration and it is something that really helps Australia's economy and yeah, I think it's been really great. And it's been good for the audience as well to kind of learn a bit more about shearing and understand what it is a bit more.

- Yeah, I agree. So what do you reckon, like what do you think being selected for the prize will mean for your photographic career 'cause it's a pretty mad day boo.

- I know! I'm still getting used. Like I'm still not comfortable with calling myself a photographer because I'm still so new to it, but yeah. I don't know, it's just elevated my career. Yeah. I guess I kind of consider myself like a bit of a storyteller through different mediums. So I think it's like been really good for that as well. But I guess personally, it's given me a lot of confidence in myself and my ideas and it's made me think, "Oh yeah, well maybe I can." It's given me the confidence to think I could do this again. You know, doing another photography project. And it's also really energised this shearing project just felt like it's made me wanna take more photos of shearers. I think it's been really cool for shearers to say that the photos that I took with them in the sheds have gone somewhere, you know, something's happened with them and I think that'll also inspire the shearers to wanna have more photos taken as well.

- Yeah, and you got into the Bowness Prize as well this year, which with the photo from the same series.

- Yeah. That photo again is a moment where they were being haggled by other shearers and they we're reacting to that and yeah. Yeah, it's pretty amazing.

- I love that photo

- Thanks. It's good to get some female shearers out there.

- Yeah, for sure So like, I guess with you, how has lockdown and sort of all the changes going on in the world affected your practise and the way you approach photography?

- It's actually been really good for me because being in WA, we haven't really been affected by COVID. I was in the Pilbara when COVID first happened, working for an arts organisation and because of COVID, I had to get out. I was in a tiny little community in the Pilbara and so I went home. And because of COVID, there were more opportunities to grants and things. So I think that actually helped me because there was money around and I was able to get a grant to do this project. So I've been really fortunate being in WA hasn't affected me. Yeah.

- Perfect. So one thing we all often get asked about is sort of like people are always interested in the equipment photography use and technicalities. So have you got a preferred style of selected equipment?

- I've just got this one camera that I bought second hand like five years ago. It's a Nikon D7,000. But what I did get for the project was a brand new lens, a zoom lens. A Nikon lens. Yeah, and I shot digital. I would like to practise to film a lot more. Yeah. Is that what you were asking?

- Yeah! Awesome! Yeah! And I guess, so what would you, how would you describe your, what's your preferred style of photography? Like storytelling obviously is a big thing that plays into it.

- Yeah. I guess documentary style. I did study filming TV and journalism at uni ages ago and I was always interested in documentary and storytelling and I've made a few radio stories the past few years, which have been documentaries. So I am really interested in that style.

- You work for Big hART. Is that right? So we've got a sort of a shared colleague in April Phillips as well who's a bit of work with the portrait gallery.

- Yeah. She's always posting about the portrait gallery on Instagram.

- So what's your role with Big hART? What do you do there?

- I'm a digital producer and a youth arts worker. So I work with mainly teenagers doing digital art projects. So I'm mentoring teenagers in podcasting, filmmaking, photography and digital drawing. And I'm usually working in pretty remote areas. So that's why I was in the Pilbara before and then recently it was just in the Northwest of Tassie working in some like little farming towns with the teenagers there.

- That's awesome.

- Big hART have actually been so supportive of this project because you know, Big hART's all about telling invisible stories. And I was saying that shearing is a bit of an invisible industry because it's very specific to the country. And so it really aligned with Big hART's values and they let me, you know, do work on my grant and do work taking photos during work time. So, it's so amazing.

- Shout out to them and I think we're looking at some projects together in the future with big hARTs. So that'll be-

- Oh really?

- Yeah. So one thing I guess like talking about your youth work and stuff, have you got any sort of tips or ideas for aspiring photographers? Especially young people that are, you know, look at your work and go, "Whoa! This chick's got this and that." Like share it all over the world.

- Yeah. Well I guess you don't, I don't know. I mean I wasn't trained as a photographer. So I guess don't feel like you need to have formal training. And shoot what makes you you. Don't shoot what you think you're supposed to be shooting. Shoot whatever you think is interesting even if other people don't. When I first started taking photos of shearers, one of the first people I told about it was my mom and my dad. And they thought it was a ridiculous idea because like, who would wanna see photos of shearers because, you know, shearers are just a part of everyday life to them. So yeah, just follow what you think is interesting and chat to your friends who do do photography. Don't be afraid to ask for help. I had a friend and mentor help me throughout my project, just supporting me. So yeah. Think about who you can ask and yeah.

- That's awesome. No, that's awesome. So, do you have any photographers or artists that sort of inspire you or that you look up to?

- Well, actually when I start, when I was applying to the grant last year to do this project, my mentor Mellen Burns, she's one of my really good friends. She told me about Ingvar Kenne, and I didn't know who he was because I'm not very cultured in the world of photography. And I saw his book, 'The Ball' and I just thought that was amazing. And so that's about, that's also like you would probably know being from the country, but The Ball is about the B&S balls, which is where like these balls that country people go to. And it's just out in a paddock somewhere and it's really messy. He did a book on the B&S balls and I just thought that was amazing. And it was all flash photography and it was just showing this bizarre culture from the country. And so it kind of gave me a bit of confidence that I could show my bizarre culture from the country as well.

- One of his photos from that series was actually a finalist in NPPP one year. I think it was Gaggsy, Brad 'Gaggsy' Gallagher. And yeah, he's been in the prize a few times. He's a fantastic photographer.

- Yeah, he's really cool. So yeah, he's inspiring and it makes me wanna, I wanna make a book too now.

- I think that's an awesome idea.

- Yeah. Thanks, yeah.

- And what about, can you remember the first photo you ever took?

- Yeah, it would probably would have been of a shearer three or four years ago when I was dabbling with a film camera. Ah! It was actually with a disposable camera. But do you mean the first photo of my whole life?

- Yeah. Either or both are interesting stories. I think both are good stories. Go with the shearer and then you can go back through time and-

- Well, yeah. The first photo I took of a shearer was with a disposable camera because I wasn't very confident in using cameras and I was just thought film was cool. And it was of Kia actually who's in the mullet magic photo and he's looking like a little punk standing next to a sign that says, that has some graffiti on it. And yeah, that was one of the first photos.

- That's awesome. Can you remember taking any photos as a kid, do you think?

- Yeah, actually I remember using a disposable camera when I was a kid as well. I had a disposable camera. Yeah, 'cause I grew up before digital cameras. So yeah.

- [Tara] Yeah.

- I remember taking photos of my pet sheep a lot. We had goats and sheep and I know that there's albums mum was forced to keep, which is just like blurry photos of sheep and goats.

- Like stand still sheep .

- Yeah.

- That's awesome. What about, like this one's a bit different, like a dream subject or scenario or some something you'd like to shoot in the future?

- Well, I wouldn't mind shooting punks that I've seen and know around cities like Sydney, because I actually feel that punks have a similar aesthetic to sheep shearers. And I always thought it would be cool to do some kind of combined project of sheep shearers and punks because there's the same kind of aesthetics. The hairstyles and the black, skinny leg jeans and kind of similar attitudes, yeah. At the moment I just feel like I wanna keep shooting shearers mainly.

- Not finished yet.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Cool! So that's pretty much almost it, but I was wondering if you had any sort of shout outs or thank you you wanted to share with people.

- Thank you National Portrait Gallery. You've been amazing. You've made me feel really, you've really validated me as a photographer and my work and it's been really great for my hometown to have all this publicity and the shearers. I'd like to thank my mentor Mellen Burns. She's a good friend of mine. She lives in Calgary and she was always on the phone. I was always like, "What does this mean on the camera? This thing's flashing. I don't know what that means." Yeah, and my work Big hART, always supportive. Pretty amazing having. We had creative Fridays so we can pursue creative things on every Friday. So that kind of helps this project become possible. And Regional Arts WA for the grants, the resilience grant. And my hometown has a little arts, they're called Arts Narrogin, and they volunteered time for my first exhibition in town. And were really supportive with that as well. So lots of people to thank. I feel like I had a lot of support. Also my family, sorry to go on and on.

- No! It's your time.

- My brother-in-law Darren. I'd never set up an exhibition or anything before and he has done that kind of thing a lot. And he put in a lot of time, like showing me how to hang the pictures. And thanks to my dad who kept referring to the pictures as paintings. It made me call them paintings.

- That's so my dad too.

- Yeah.

- Like I do martial arts, I do Muay Thai and like still 10 years later my dad's like, "How's your karate going?" And I'm like, "Yup, same thing, cool. It's great, thanks dad." He thinks everything I do at work is just to do with them pictures.

- It's so good.

- What about, and this one's voluntary, just Leith's parting words of wisdom.

- Words of wisdom for everyone?

- Anyone, anything you wanna say.

- Just know that you're amazing. All of you are amazing and unique and talented and you all have something to offer and don't stop believing in yourself.