Sarah Pannell Creates Closeness in Her Photos Using ND Filters

Last year, my best friend of over 20 years moved to northern NSW to begin a family with her partner. They moved to the small community of Stokers Siding and gave birth to their daughter in August.

These photographs are from the first days that I met her, and are an intimate snapshot of the new life they have created after relocating from Melbourne just a few months earlier, nestling themselves on a large lot of land surrounded by rolling green hills and grazing cows. I was lucky to visit in October and I was struck by the incredible climate and light that saturates this part of the country.

Given the generous golden hour light both in the early morning and late afternoon, I chose to shoot a majority of these images with my ND filter, to be able to shoot on a wider aperture on my Mamiya 7. Being able to shoot at f/4 with a shallow depth of field, creates a better intimacy with my subjects. I find the ND filter an advantage given the limitations of the camera’s shooting capabilities when shooting on 400 speed film, particularly in sunny conditions.