“Those images came about as a result of my own mental health issues and the goal was to project these feelings onto the audience in order for them to empathise and remove stigma that surrounds mental health disorders.” – Suzanah Do on her award winning images.

Part of ‘Anxiety‘ – the People’s Choice Award Winning Series from Suzanah Do

Here at LensHire, we believe in empowering and supporting emerging artists & students on their path in the visual arts. We were given a perfect opportunity last month to be part of CATC Design School’s Photo Exhibition EXPOSURE where a class of photography students were given the limelight to showcase their artistic works on an opening night with 150 invited guests that included their family, friends, industry mentors and partners.

The LensHire People’s Choice Award, which was picked by audience voting, was presented to the very talented Suzanah Do and we couldn’t be happier for her to be recognised!

This month, she spends some time with us on our Artist Feature as we find out more about her thoughts, dreams and photographic state of mind.

I am currently… a student at CATC Design School undertaking a diploma of photo imaging. I am enjoying the course so far and still have one more semester to go until I graduate. I can’t say that I’ve done a lot of work since I only started this course this year with no clue where I was going with myself, but I knew I wanted to hold a camera and just capture moments that mean something to me.

When I won the People’s Choice Award… all I could think of is whether or not I was dreaming. It felt so surreal that my work had become one that was recognised the most by spectators. I hope and believe that people chose my work for the awards because they could understand and feel what I was trying to portray.

Part of ‘Anxiety‘ – the People’s Choice Award Winning Series from Suzanah Do

Those (award winning) images… came about as a result of my own mental health issues and how I want to recreate the feelings that runs through my mind when I am not feeling well. The goal was to project these feelings onto the audience in order for them to empathise and remove stigma that surrounds mental health disorders.

Part of ‘Anxiety‘ – the People’s Choice Award Winning Series from Suzanah Do

I decided to pursue photography because… of my own vested interest in using it as a tool to express myself. I have always been a type of person who needs strong visuals to understand anything. You can say I prefer watching movies over reading books. And at the start of the year I had an epiphany and decided to quit my full time job and pursue something that was much more fulfilling for my soul.

Photography is to me… what bread is to butter. The combination will always be significant regardless of any changes that come my way. Whether or not I choose to pursue studies in another field or not, photography will always be my haven.

When I get behind the lens… it is like I’ve entered another world. Kind of like watching a movie but one snap at a time and I am the director. My perception changes when I look through the viewfinder and my vision is confined to a rectangular box. I am constantly looking for the perfect moment, like in the films. That one scene that makes you go WOW. And it’s very satisfying seeing that perfect moment captured in the palm of your hands.

My inspiration comes from… Instagram and Pinterest. Both of these platforms are very useful source of inspiration that collate a ton of images for you to view. With Instagram, some notable grammers for myself are usually the ones that feature other artists works with recognition of creativity such as @portraitpage, @thedarkpr0ject, @theportraitpr0ject and @peoplephotatoes, just to name a few. You could say that inspiration comes from everyone’s work, whether you’re famous commercial photographer or a hobbyist.

The most insane thing I’ve done for a shoot… is to leave my comfort zone of being in a nice warm environment and I went out in the middle of winter and shot the stars for the first time. It was a road trip with some of my friends down to Mildura to visit a close friend of mine. After a long day of travelling to and from Adelaide, we finally got back to my mates house and it was surely 2am and the temperature outside was definitely below 5. I stood outside for half an hour to an hour, exhausted and freezing cold but at the same time excited to see what results I would get out of it.

I hope to be able… to make a difference in this world using the tool of photographs. Being able to send a message to the public about any significant event or issue through the use of my creative photography skills. An example of this was the series that won the People’s Choice Awards titles Anxiety: The Illustrations. I want to create awareness of issues that people tend to shy away from in order to create acknowledgement and help when needed.

All image credit to Suzanah Do // October 2016