EXPOSURE: Contemporary Photographers In Australia And New Zealand

Amber Creswell-Bell’s latest book, EXPOSURE, features 40 Australian and New Zealand photographers—celebrating contemporary photography’s ability to observe, interpret, and inspire.

Words HANDE RENSHAW

Florilegium #10 2016 by Joseph McGlennon. Main hero image: Dead Sea Colour 2021 by Rex Dupain.

Josh Hardwick 2014 by Brock Elbank.

Arc 2022 by Gerwyn Davies.

Mother 41 by Lisa Sorgini.

Mother 42 by Lisa Sorgini.

“An image that triggers deeper, positive feelings and emotions from our past, or resonates strongly with our current values and beliefs, is undoubtedly a great one.”

— AMBER CRESWELL-BELL

Hibiscus 2022 by Brad Walls.

EXPOSURE by Amber Creswell-Bell is out now.

Honolulu 2004 by Stuart Spence.

Photography turns on an instant. In EXPOSURE: Contemporary Photographers in Australia and New Zealand, Amber Creswell-Bell considers what that moment can hold—place, people and the act of looking.

‘A photograph is a visual capture of a fleeting moment, so brief that a mechanical process can halt in time,’ Amber shares. ‘What occurs on either side of that fleeting moment can change the resulting image entirely.’

Bringing together 40 contemporary photographers from Australia and New Zealand, including Leila Jeffreys, Bill Henson and Stuart Spence, the book spans approaches from candid, point-and-shoot directness to meticulously constructed scenes. The subjects are broad—environment, motherhood, identity—yet each artist pursues the same clarity: to connect with the viewer through the discipline of the frame.

Placed in sequence, the works sharpen one another. Australia’s coastal edges and inland expanses meet New Zealand’s distinct topographies; domestic scenes sit against social and historical context. The effect reads less like a survey than an active conversation about what photography is doing now.

Within the book, Amber writes with clarity and assurance, grounded in long engagement with Australia’s art and design landscape. The Sydney-based writer and speaker has contributed to leading magazines and previously served as Director of Emerging Art at Michael Reid Galleries, where she launched the National Emerging Art Prize (NEAP) in 2021. Exposureis her seventh book, following Clay (2016), A Painted Landscape (2018), Ken Done: Art Design Life (2021), the award-winning Still Life (2021), Australian Abstract (2023) and About Face (2024).

Ultimately, EXPOSURE treats photography as more than image-making. It asks how pictures hold meaning; how we recognise ourselves, our communities and our landscapes in what’s framed—offering a considered view of the medium.

This is an edited extract from EXPOSURE by Amber Creswell-Bell. Published by Thames & Hudson Australia. Out now.