Michelle Chalklin-Sinclair’s "little aside" is coming out of the shadows.
The Dunedin gallery owner is showing a selection of her photography in a joint exhibition with stylised landscape painter Catherine Garrett.
While Chalklin-Sinclair has shown the odd work in group shows over the years, this is the first time she will be front and centre.
"This is for me, but it’s been a bit hard to market or sell myself."
It is a show that was planned for earlier this year but, like many, was postponed because of lockdown. As a result, the year’s schedule has been compressed so it will hang alongside the gallery’s annual Christmas exhibition.
Chalklin-Sinclair’s gallery, The Artists Room, has always been her passion and she loves looking after artists and promoting their work. Her photography has always been a sideline to that.
"I love doing what I do."
It was through the gallery, which opened 16 years ago, that her interest in photography developed into a hobby.
"It all started because I wanted to look after a couple of photographers and wanted to know a bit more about photography."
Steev Peyroux, one of her artists, was organising night classes at Otago Polytechnic at the time and enrolled her in the photography class.
"I freaked out, but it taught me so many things and I fell in love with it."
These days she takes most of her photographs on a cellphone rather than her DSLR camera.
"I’ve become lazy and my family, even my dog, got very upset at me carrying around all this gear."
She remembers one of her tutors saying photography was not about the equipment but about what the person taking the picture sees and how they take the picture.
"You follow the same rules about shadow, composition, palette."
The only real downside of using the phone is the ability to enlarge photographs is restricted.
Chalklin-Sinclair is most well known for her urban and rural landscapes of Otago and Southland, which attract requests and social media comments from former residents around the world.
"I have a palette — it’s dark, gloomy. I love skies and a more painterly aspect."
She mostly posts her photographs on social media,
and occasionally prints her photographs, but always in limited runs of no more than five.
While she says many photographs are planned, some just happen when she sees something, whether it is a Dunedin alleyway or an interesting landscape.
"The biggest compliment is when people see the ordinary in a different way and have a connection to it."
This exhibition features photographs taken while "rediscovering" Dunedin and Otago after lockdown restrictions were lifted.
"It’s about exploring my own backyard; my own place."
TO SEE
The Artists Room, December 12-24
