About Lee Sandwith

My name is Lee Sandwith and I am a Melbourne-based photographer and actress.

I wanted to be a photographer from a very young age; however I spent most of my adult life focusing on an acting career and intermittently working in film and theatre as a director, a producer or working in production.

It wasn’t until about 6 years ago, when I received a Canon 400D as a birthday gift, that the spark to be a photographer was ignited within me. It was then I realised I could be all the things I wanted to be—that I didn’t have to choose. The recognition that I could simply transfer the stories I felt so compelled to tell through performance and film-making, to photography, was a great relief to me.

My early photographic beginnings were made up of literally hundreds of pictures of my beloved cat Roy Orbison, who proved to be a most patient subject, and showed only slight disdain as I rolled on the floor beside him and snapped away fervently.

My first training as a photographer was in high school. Since then, I have undertaken a number of short courses, used the internet and libraries for research and inspiration, spent considerable hours talking to and swapping ideas with other photographers, and over the past 12 months I have been instructed and mentored more formally by another professional photographer. But as any photographer will tell you, the best training is to actually take photographs.

Over my years as a photographer I have had the great opportunity to shoot and bear witness to some glorious weddings, spent sacred time capturing the arrival of new humans into the world, taken portraits of people from all walks of life—from lovely families to famous celebrity faces, as well as a few corporate high rollers—and worked with incredibly talented teams of people to shoot high-concept fashion shoots. I have run around sweating and panting to capture that one extraordinary instant at live events, shot (and ate!) some extraordinary food for cookbooks, as well as completed a number of my own personal fine art projects.

I take photography a lot more seriously these days even though the cat will always remain a favoured subject. To quote the late Susan Sontag who once said that having “a camera can inspire something akin to lust”, I now find myself ensconced, uncontrolled, with my love for photography, with a fervour that demands I keep telling stories and that I continue seeking out experience and capturing as many moments as I can—because they are all wonderful and all worthy of remembrance.

To see more of my professional work, please visit this link.