Freelance documentary photographer Stephanie Simcox started out in photography by shooting film in high school on her mum’s old Pentax. After high school, she was accepted into the National Art School, where she completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2006. She also completed a certificate in photo imaging at Ultimo TAFE.
Simcox has just returned from a trip to Kenya and Uganda shooting for the Action Aid program for sustainable farming to working at Sunstudios in Sydney. “In my short time as a freelancer, I have worked in a range of international environments and gained valuable humanitarian experience,” she says. Her introduction to humanitarian work was in 2010 when she travelled to Laos as the official photographer for Handicap International’s conference.
While in Laos, Simcox worked with the United Nations campaign to ban cluster munitions, and with local organisations that made prosthetic limbs and engaged in work placement for victims of these weapons. Back in Australia, Simcox has continued to work in the not-for-profit sector shooting for Action Aid, AusAID, and other humanitarian organisations.
Recently, Simcox was chief photographer for Action Aid in Bangladesh and Cambodia, capturing images to form part of a campaign, Safe Cities for Women. Her work was exhibited at the University of Technology, Sydney. Simcox also exhibited work in the Head On festival in 2016, as part of the group show, Coterie.
Also in 2016, Simcox was named one of 30 under 30 female international photographers by Photo Boite. In the same year, she was a finalist in the National Portrait Photographic Prize, as well as the Maggie Diaz Photography Prize for Women, DUO Magazine Percival Photographic Portrait Prize, and the Canon Shine Award.
In her work, Simcox is looking for the spontaneous moment. “I try to find small moments of intimacy, a moment of reflection or a mood,” she says. She also enjoys some variety in the form of some fashion and advertising work. “I love the fact that I can move from one discipline to the other, because my passion really lies in being able to capture and tell stories through images.”
In the next phase of her career, Simcox plans to stay focused on documenting human stories, either through humanitarian work or her own personal projects. “I haven’t had a linear journey through photography,” she says. “However, I feel each step I’ve taken has led me back to sharing stories of human experience in one way or another.”
www.stephaniesimcoxphoto.com