introducing: Shirley Steel

We are deviating slightly from the norm with the next issue of Len’s Journal. All the photographers featured in this next issue are connected by having attended Len and Shirley’s ‘Abstract Retreat’. This is a week-long retreat in the Blue Mountains in Australia where the participants totally get away from it and and are able to focus purely on their photography. The creativity flows when you have a group of five people in a house together all madly photographing and pushing themselves to make abstract work and handmade books! Not only that, but with teaching and guidance from Len and Shirley, and a drop in zoom session with Doug Chinnery, the seeds were sown for some really compelling work to be made and so, we could not resist gathering it together and presenting it here for you.

Shirley Steel has been running the ‘Abstract Retreat’ with Len (and other workshops) for a while now and was instrumental to the success of the week. Her enthusiasm for abstract photography and passing on her knowledge is humbling. Her own abstract photography is beautifully seen and constructed as shown by the series included here.

Len says: “Shirley and I go back a long way now, and we have been teaching together for many years. Ever since I was first introduced to her work I have been in love with it, and have found it inspiring. In this delicate body of work she steps away from her colours and takes us on a fantasy that feels like it is lead by an elf or some other deity that protects the trees. Light delicate and airy, they are indeed a joy to see”.

Shirley is running the ‘Abstract Workshop’ with Len in November in Kiama this year: https://www.lensschool.com/workshops-tours/the-abstract-workshop

To see more of Shirley’s work, please visit her website: https://shirleysteel.com

This image is part of a series of Shirley’s work that will appear in Len’s Journal Volume 3 Issue 2, due for publication in May 2023. Subscribe to the print edition of Len’s Journal here.

Photograph reproduced with permission. Photograph copyright © Shirley Steel 2023