Stratford photographer to showcase landscapes at Taranaki Arts Trail

Stratford photographer Amy Taunt.

Stratford photographer Amy Taunt will showcase her landscape photography during the Taranaki Arts Trail next month.

Amy will show her work in a makeshift gallery on Beaconsfield Rd along with Stratford artists Vicky Taylor and Michelle Rowland. The trail is happening between June 9-11 and more than 74 artists are participating this year — including six artists from Stratford.

Amy grew up on a farm near Stratford and completed a Bachelor of Applied Arts in 2016 after finishing at Stratford High School. She has spent the time since focusing on her new trade and has also landed herself the job of part time gallery assistant at the Percy Thomson Gallery.

The 22-year-old says she has been wanting to do the trail for a while and it makes sense grouping together with Michelle and Vicky for the event. Amy photographs a range of subjects but likes to focus on landscapes which will be displayed at the gallery in a range of of ways including framed, on canvas and on placemats.

Amy is passionate about photography and wants to work her way up to create a career for herself.

"I guess I have always been creative I started painting first when I was at school and Michelle was actually my art teacher. I gradually got more into photography and I really enjoy it."

Amy says she doesn't like using Photoshop and tries to do minimal editing on her pictures — getting all of her settings on the camera right to avoid having to edit too much.

Her love of farming and photography came together in 2016 when she put together a photo documentary about dairy farming called Taranaki Daily which was shown at the Percy Thomson Gallery.

She has also done a documentary series about Kaponga which has been shown in Kapiti but she hopes to keep working on it and show it in Stratford at some point in the future. She was recently commissioned to do a billboard for Roadsafe Taranaki which is mounted on the TET Multisports Stadium.

Amy, Michelle and Vicky's gallery can be found at 669 Beaconsfield Rd and will be open between 9.30am and 4.30pm, June 9-11. Those visiting the gallery will need to make a short detour as the Kahouri Stream bridge will be closed for people coming from Stratford.