Capturing moments with Alex Hallifax

Words and images by Alex Hallifax.

Alex Hallifax is not only one of our fantastic writers, she also knows how to shoot a camera every now and then. Growing up in Christchurch, she now calls the Windy City home – pondering on whether adulthood really does exist. In her own words she talks about her love for film, what she is drawn to as a photographer, and giving us a little bit behind the scenes into her images. 

I'm certain about many things like how much I like interviewing people, taking photos, and writing but still uncertain about the big questions like how I'm going to pay my rent this year. I took photography as a subject in Year 12. My school had a lot of film equipment and a wonderful darkroom. Every photography student learnt how to process and develop their own film, but most people were more interested in digital. I fell head-over-heels in love with the space which became my solace, especially because not many students used it. 

Film is coffee and cake. Film is swimming naked in the ocean. Film makes anything art. It makes anything seem special, memorable, unique. And it always leaves you wanting more. 

I'm drawn to colour, lines, light, people. Like pressing flowers until they dry, I want to capture the emotion of a moment so that I can remember what it felt like to be there. Owning a camera is powerful; you can force others to see things through your lens. I think life is very romantic; I hope that comes across in my photos which I think speak for themselves. 

This is from the first roll of film I ever shot in 2012. This is the roll that sort of changed my life. Developing it gave me feelings that I'd never felt before. One of my best friends Johanna, and I conducted a photo shoot in my backyard. She was definitely my first muse. There are some people I know that when I'm with them, I can't help it but take their photo the whole time.

This photo was inspired by Francesca Woodman's work; she was a photographer from the 1970s. It's nice to have people you trust and love to take photos of when you're just starting out, or at any point to experiment with. I love the frame of this photo, the look on her face, the textures of the dress and the complexity of the leaves behind her. It's sort of a dark and haunting image in some ways. It is probably heightened by the black and white colouring. I don't know; it will always be special to me.

I love the colours of this photo: my sister Sophie, Mig, Seb, and Lily. Sometimes when you live in Wellington the closest you will get to a backyard is a concrete rooftop. This was taken in 2015 on Abel Smith Street where I lived. It was one of those horribly dark and damp places that you are immensely grateful for because any type of flat means freedom and independence. It was from this flat that I transferred my studies to Dunedin. I remember the huge house my friends were planning to live in down south. I was told there was certainly space for me. That house pulled me away from the dampness of this Wellington apartment. But this photo still makes me feel warm. I think we were listening to The Internet or something else. Mig complimented me on the music I was playing. No one had ever done that before, and I was stoked haha.

India. Every photographer's dream. I was travelling with my Dad and my younger sister. I had my back to the Taj Mahal when I took this at the end of 2018. When you go to the Taj everybody is taking the obvious pictures in front of the beautiful structure but often when I have my camera I'm trying to capture the moments around the obvious frame. As I mentioned before, I like colours and lines. I mean, the top half of the photo isn't very good quality, but you can't miss the beautiful symmetry of the reflections in the water plus the soft and warm colours present. I'm very aware when it comes to taking photos of strangers. I never want anyone to feel like their space has been imposed on, especially when I'm travelling knowing I am a white woman with a camera, you can quickly step into the role of voyeur – someone who misses the culture and moment of a time or place because they are more concerned with capturing and taking. I don't rate that. This photo, however, gives you a little glimpse into the beautiful colours that people in India wear. 

Catherine, reading big books and talking big shit. One of the best summers to date. This photo was taken on the beach in Mount Manganui early January 2020. Cath and I met when she worked with my flatmate at Chow in Wellington. It was a time in my life when weed would bring me close to people. Cath would come and smoke at our flat etc. That was a few years back when I was living in the Wellington apartment. This summer we were both kicking around up North and Cath had a free house in Tauranga, so a group of us stayed there for a week playing endless games of Kings and Assholes. We would hit the beach during the day, gigs at night, cards in between it all. This photo makes me feel grateful for support, shit-talking and love. I think I and everyone else that passed through that house felt support to speak and be free. We were advocates for each other. You need that. We all do, especially in our 20s. To speak to the photo, I've been trying to get closer to my subjects which doesn't always work because it's easy to scare people out of their flow, the very thing you're trying to capture. The colours are just beautiful. They're buttery, a word I've just started using as an adjective. The focus is clear and crisp and who doesn't like the blues of summer skies and seas once it's been transferred to film.

Peering over a bridge in Japan, 2019. Street photography in Japan is clean; there are lots of great lines to work with. I spent a few months travelling through Japan by myself late last year. This photo was in Tokyo; I was taking a walk through a park near my hostel. As I mentioned before, I'm very wary when it comes to photographing strangers, but I do love having humans in the shot. I learned to be quite subtle about it. I love the lines in this photo. The autumnal colours. The shadows on the pavement. But the little man peering over the bridge at the traffic below makes it.

Tokyo sites, 2019. This photo stands out to me because of the depth of focus. I love looking out of plane windows as I take off to get a view of the world in miniature. Maybe this photo reminds me of that – little people living little lives. I also love any image with greenery and nature in it. Maybe that's another reason why I like this photo, the wildlife and the city. Tokyo is a crazy busy place which is actually great for photography because you can blend into the background of the chaos and noise. I don't know; it's something about the colours and something about that little umbrella in the middle. It's cute.

Cheese, bread, coffee. Three things I love, three things that make me feel warm and lovely. When captured on film, it just heightens the feeling for me. I love how food looks on film. I know people get trashed for taking photos of food, but I think it's beautiful art. I get the privilege of eating so much good food. There's nothing really special about this photo I guess. It's just the feeling that it gives me. It takes me to a time, not even a specific time but just a moment of companionship with a full belly on a Saturday morning with a free agenda. 

This guy. Measuring out all the essential oils we never used. I took this on that same trip to India in 2018 with my Dad and my sister. My Dad was mainly in India for a work trip. He'd never been before and offered to take us with him and turn it into a holiday. I think he was a bit nervous to travel there alone for the first time. We were there for two weeks. One week of business and one week of tour guides and city hopping. In each city we had a guide that would drive us around, show us the sites and also, rope us into some sort of shopping expedition where a merchant would share all of their delicacies and then we were essentially expected to buy something. Here we have this wonderful man who was quite a character, measuring out six bottles of essential oils for us. I don't think I've ever used mine; I don't know why. I asked him if I could take this photo and it just happened to be a banger. Frame, focus, and colour. That's what I like about it.

I wanted to include at least one more photo of food. Food and film are a married couple in my eyes. I just appreciate the beauty and colour of food. What can I say? Greece, 2014. A pit stop between heavy nights on the piss partying up with Contiki. Three of my closest friends and I met in Europe that summer and embarked on something like 32 days of camping in 23 countries or something ludicrous like that. On this particular day, we had just been to the Acropolis in Athens. It was scorching. We made our way down to the township, found a spot with WIFI (so funny because now kids on Contiki probably have wifi round the clock, but I was travelling Europe just before Instagram got big, very grateful for that) and then six of us gals who became super tight hit this little restaurant for platters. I don't really eat meat anymore, but I remember this being one of the best meals of my life. 

Me. Taking photos around the grounds of a silent meditation retreat I did in Japan last year. Life ae. I'm very grateful for all the travel I have done. Maybe you've heard of a Vipassana retreat or know someone who has done one. It's a pretty incredible experience, living amongst others but not speaking, making eye contact or interacting in any way. It's a huge challenge to self, meditating for so many hours. I think it ended up being 100 hours of meditation over the 10 days. I wanted to go because I wanted to challenge myself and progress in my personal development. This photo was taken at the very end, essentially day eleven. I don't normally take self-portraits with my film, but this was a fun shot. Usually, I'm more into photo booth selfies and iPhone numbers, but it's cool to have this image from this moment in my life. I'm sure I'll look back on it and be proud of what I accomplished while I was over there.