For years Ebony Lamb has been the go-to portrait photographer for Wellington artists—writers in particular, notoriously hard to shoot well. A standout is Elizabeth Knox in garden-witch mode: apron, brassicas, a clever, peering-forward posture.
Lamb photographed poet Karlo Mila for this issue. The two working mums were both frantically busy but time, Lamb says, “stood still for a bit”. “There was this kind of joyfulness to it.”
Now Lamb, chasing joy, is about to move to Tokyo; her husband will teach over there and their 12-year-old son will thrive, she reckons. The opportunity came just a couple of months after the family’s move to Auckland. “It’s been a tornado to the brain,” she says. “I want to be inspired beyond my own tiny world… Our job is just to not get scared.” She’ll be back in New Zealand once a year, and clocking up as many shoots as she can.
