“Jane is the ladybird’s best friend. For that matter she should be lauded and loved by every member of nature’s world. I know she is by this old buzzard.”
Bert Newton
Jane’s work serves as an exquisite reminder of nature. Her love for ladybirds and the little things in life is infectious! Her unique voice inspires us to smile and treat the earth more gently . I don’t know if it is the colours she uses or the subject matter and the way she portays it, that has the greater effect on me. I strongly suspect it is the combination of both.
Jane is a macro or close-up specialist. It is not all she photographs (I see her snapping all sorts of things…), but the little things are always the first to capture her attention.
Jane started her photographic career as a runway photographer when her mother , Australian fashion icon Liz Davenport, came to visit her in London. Liz bought so many shoes she couldn’t fit her new camera in the suitcase and left it behind for Jane to return on a future visit home. London Fashion Week was about to commence and she really wanted to see if supermodels were as beautiful in the flesh as in the glossies, so snuck in as a photographer and discovered two things 1. They are and 2. she loved photography. Jane became a fashion catwalk regular and Liz never got her camera back.
Now Jane captures the show-ponies of the garden as they pose in the latest spring fashion and parade down petal catwalks. Jane tells me it’s not really so different from photographing supermodels. Now she has swapped the human kind of social butterfly for the real thing. I describe her as an ‘Artomologist’ finding it the perfect way to define her unique mix of art and entomological persuasions. Jane’s work has featured in over 30 exhibitions, for five years she was the insect expert at one of Australia’s leading garden and lifestyle magazines (her column was called ‘Sects in the City ), she has created 5 books and many, many industrial, fashion and textile designs inspired by ladybirds.
If you asked me 8 years ago if Jane’s ladybird pre-occupation could shape our future, I would have laughed, not because I didn’t believe it, but because I know how much fun we would have along the way.
Angus Way
Co-founder of The Institute of Cute
Cick here for : Message from Jane Davenport
For more images, artwork sales, equipment list, workshop news and biography information, please jump to www,janedavenport.com.au
Until Jane finishes her own macro photography book, why notsharpen your skills by considering these books?
