Thirteen-year-old shutterbug with a thirst for adventure hosts his first exhibition

“This one was a flopportunity.”

I am sitting with 13-year-old Josh Thurecht-Luckham at his family dining room table and he is taking me through the images featured in his current photographic exhibition, Diverse Perspectives.

Pulling them up one at a time on his laptop, Josh clearly remembers when and where he took each shot. He points at the flower on the screen, and explains that a ‘flopportunity’ is when an accident works out great.

Josh’s collection predominantly features wildlife and architecture. He snapped several flower images with his new favourite lens, the macro that he got for Christmas.

He often finds inspiration on a walk. “If I see something interesting, I’ll take photos using different compositions, then go back and take more photos at an angle I liked best, making sure I nail the focus.”

The compositions of his images are beautiful and technically sound. One in particular nails the Golden Ratio in a way I can only dream of capturing. Many of his subjects fill the screen and you can see that he is drawn to lines and symmetry.

There is a moodiness to his architectural images; Josh likes an atmospheric feel and aims for dark foregrounds with cloud cover to add drama.

Josh walks me through the process of producing an exhibition.

It began over a year ago, with an application to the Tuggeranong Arts Centre. He was happily surprised to hear back after a few weeks that his application was accepted.

Another surprise was how much work goes into putting on an exhibition.

“There’s all the pre-planning, the publicity,” he explains. “There’s art statements, the room sheets, and then getting the photos printed.”

Josh went out photographing new material specifically for the exhibition. From several hundred images, he chose twenty-two for the exhibition space.

“I had the photos printed at Lucent Imaging at Fyshwick. They were great, they let me cut the photos and help print them on the paper.”

Josh has been serious about his photography for a year and a half, but he says that there is old video footage showing him wielding a toy camera at 3 years old; aiming it and pressing the button repeatedly.

I ask him about his photographic style and he pauses for a moment.

“I don’t have one specific style, because there’s so much variety to try. I think my style changes depending on what discipline of photography I am doing, and what my mood is.

“Photography is just a way that I can express myself.”

When it comes to photographers that he emulates, Josh admires the patience and the extremes that landscape photographer Thomas Heeton goes to, to get a shot.

He credits his own technical knowledge to an eight-week course with local photography legend, Irene Lorbergs.

So, has all the hard work in the lead up to this exhibition put him off doing another one in the future?

His answer is swift. “Not at all! Getting to showcase your work is a really cool experience. And to have a lot of positive feedback makes you want to try and get better and keep taking photos.”

With his gentle self-assuredness, attitude of being malleable and wanting to continually learn and grow as a photographer, I think we will be seeing a lot more of Josh.

Diverse Perspectives will be showing at Tuggeranong Arts Centre until the 31st of August. Entry is free.

Tuggeranong Art Centre is located at 137 Reed Street, Greenway. Their telephone number is (02) 6293 1443.

Opening hours are 10-6 pm on weekdays and 10-4 pm on Saturdays.

Original Article published by Michelle Taylor on The RiotACT.