Kia ora my name is Sarah Watkins, nice to meet you! I am Lucalia Photography. I am based in sunny Nelson, Aotearoa New Zealand. I photograph couples, families and businesses in Nelson, Tasman and Marlborough.

 

I get excited about exploring outdoors; hate having my photo taken and love documenting real life for local families. Real is so much more meaningful than staged or posed. Real is beautiful. Especially the food on the floor, the tantrum in the park and the snuggles before bed.

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Why am I a documentary photographer? I have very fond memories of my dad and growing up in the house my parents built in the Tasmanian bush. My dad passed away when I was a child and there are very few photos of him as he was the photographer. I want to give the gift of preserving real life right now, to other families.

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I started documenting the world around me when a school friend invited me to a photography class, aged 15. I was mesmerised: processing black and white film in the dark and magically watching an image emerge from a white piece of paper. I gained a Bachelor of Fine Arts (graphic design and photography) and a Bachelor of Visual Communication (Honours). I have created photos professionally using digital technology since 2002.

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I'm so lucky to share life with my illustrator husband Ben and two beautiful boys. We love to adventure "together", mostly with Ben 20 metres ahead of me as he walks super fast! We moved from Australia to New Zealand in 2018 in search of bigger mountains. Our son Nicholas was born in 2020 and Thomas in 2022.

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Please do contact me if I sound like the photographer for you, I'd love to learn about you and your family.

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Photo credits: Courtz Ewington Photography, Fred & Hannah, Sarah Watkins, Jackie Lockyer