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Exposure: Leah Dee

Sydney-based photographer Leah Dee has no formal training and uses only compact cameras to take her beautiful macro, nature and architectural shots.

Lexy Savvides
Lexy is an on-air presenter and award-winning producer who covers consumer tech, including the latest smartphones, wearables and emerging trends like assistive robotics. She's won two Gold Telly Awards for her video series Beta Test. Prior to her career at CNET, she was a magazine editor, radio announcer and DJ. Lexy is based in San Francisco.
Lexy Savvides
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Sobbing

Leah Dee

(Credit: Leah Dee)

Photographer: Leah Dee

Speciality: Macro, nature

Biography: Leah is a 21-year-old amateur photographer from Sydney. At school she never studied art subjects, making her foray in photography all the more intriguing. After finishing school in 2007, Leah went on to study Business and Commerce at university.

Whenever she goes out, Leah always takes her camera with her. In April 2010, she decided to pick up her camera and take photographs of anything and everything as a way to relax from her studies.

While not having extensive photographic knowledge, Leah knows that photography is something she loves. She has recently purchased two film cameras and has started to experiment with and edit her photos. Even though Leah's university honours course doesn't give her time to photograph as much as she'd like, her camera is never far from her side.

Whenever I take a photograph, I try and achieve the best photo possible as I really hate to edit photos dramatically; I feel it can take away from the context of the photo. I've moved away from simply shooting flowers and nature to shoot architecture and really anything that looks amazing in black and white. For me, photography is all about experimenting and learning from my mistakes and trying to improve as I go.

Equipment: FujiFilm FinePix S5700, Canon IXUS 210 IS, Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T70, Minolta SLR, Holga 120 CFN, Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0.

Video interview

More of Leah's work can be seen on her Flickr and her website.

This shot was taken of a plant in my garden in January after a huge downpour at my house. I usually walk around my house and try to find little shots like this. It's just something that puts a smile on my face. I also loved the reflection in the rain drop, as well.

Exposure: 1/40, f/3.6, ISO 320

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Bowling

This shot was taken, again, after a downpour in March. I have a real passion for macro photography, especially of nature and water drops. This was actually the first time I had taken a macro shot with my flash on, and I'm relatively happy with the outcome.

Exposure: 1/40, f/3.6, ISO 320

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Partly

With the beautiful summer days and summer sunsets, I spent most of my evenings outside my house trying to capture a beautiful sunset. Thankfully, I was ready to go on the night we got this beautiful sunset.

Exposure: 1/40, f/3.4, ISO 250

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Shading

I've always had such a fascination with architecture and the curves and lines used to create a magnificent piece of work. This was no exception. Before a concert at Acer Arena, we walked around Sydney Olympic Park and past the Homebush train station. With the sun setting, the shadows on the train station were simply beautiful... so of course, I had to take a photo.

Exposure: 1/500, f/2.9, ISO 80

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Swings

This was another shot taken at Sydney Olympic Park during the Sydney Royal Easter Show. I had a couple of cousins over and they were dying to have a go on this ride; however, I wasn't so game. Just watching it made me dizzy, but I guess it was worth it after all.

Exposure: 1/550, f/3.6, ISO 64

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Clover

In a potted plant outside my bedroom, I saw this beautiful clover sprinkled with dew. With my macro setting ready to go, I managed to get this picture nice and early one morning.

Exposure: 1/80, f/3.6, ISO 200

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Stripes

This picture was taken at Taronga Zoo in Sydney. This zebra was unfortunately being harassed by an emu but I still managed to get a good shot of the Zebra when he was eating. Beautiful weather and beautiful animals made for a great day.

Exposure: 1/280, f/3.6, ISO 280

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Watching

Through, I can only assume, a very thick piece of glass, I managed to snap this photo of a beautiful tiger at Taronga Zoo again. Thankfully, this tiger was rather still so I was able to capture a small series of photographs.

Exposure: 1/160, f/3.6, ISO 100

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Leaf

I have no idea what leaf this tree is off or where it came from, but I had to take a photo of it. Just wandering around my house, I managed to find this little leaf, in the shape of a heart, just lying there. I just thought it was a cute picture.

Exposure: 1/40, f/3.6, ISO 200

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Connected

This is a macro shot of a broken dandelion. Ever since I started photography, I've always wanted to capture a picture like this. However, every time I wanted to, it was either windy or they were destroyed. Thankfully, I grabbed this one and managed to get this picture.

Exposure: 1/80, f/3.6, ISO 150

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Museum

This image was taken outside the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan, New York. I had no idea this museum would be so beautiful, and it got better inside. Unfortunately, you could only take pictures outside or from the ground level. Regardless, I recommend everyone to visit the Guggenheim on "Museum Street" in Manhattan because it's just amazing. Architectural genius.

Exposure: 1/640, f/3.6, ISO 320

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Fade

This photo was taken right in front of the Opera House, Sydney. While most people were photographing the Opera house, I decided that the sunset was more appealing as it had been raining all day and this was the first bit of colour I had seen all day.

Exposure: 1/70, f/3.6, ISO 200

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Escapee

One of my earlier photographs taken, I captured this lady bug wandering along a group of beautiful orange flowers in my garden.

Exposure: 1/70, f/3.6, ISO 400

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Splat

Every time my friends and I decide to go out, it always rains. One day we made a three hour trip up to the Hunter Valley for a friend's birthday and it had been raining. Mostly everything was drenched and dull, but the plants were just so vibrant and full of life. After wandering through wineries, we managed to find a beautiful garden, which is where I snapped this photograph. I have no idea what type of plant it is, but I just loved the vibrant colour.

Exposure: 1/125, f/3.6, ISO 100

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Bright

This photo was such an amazing find. I was walking to check my mail and noticed this beautiful bright red dragonfly sunbaking on a leaf. I was worried that it would fly away if I even moved but it stayed perfectly still the entire time.

Exposure: 1/200, f/3.6, ISO 200

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Tall

This photograph was taken on the iconic Brooklyn Bridge in New York. In December, my best friend and I travelled to New York for a vacation and walked along the bridge. Even though it was under construction, it was still an amazing piece of work.

Exposure: 1/1000, f/3.6, ISO 200

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Sunshine

This photo was taken around my garden. I just loved the vibrant colours of the flower and the sky so I had to get a snapshot.

Exposure: 1/450, f/3.6, ISO 450

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Nose

This picture is of my dog, Monty. He probably has the cutest nose and when he was sunbathing outside in the backyard, I snuck up and got a close-up shot of it; and thankfully, he didn't wake up. I chose this photo to showcase because Monty is currently going through medical procedures to fight cancer in his lymph nodes and he is the most important factor in my mum's life. So I dedicate it to both of them for their strength.

Exposure: 1/160, f/3.6, ISO 100

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