Erica and I got to know each other as we shared the same business complex in Alexandria. Erica seemed like a no-nonsense sort of a girl, and I liked her straight away. During my last year at the complex, I had the opportunity to work with her, styling some fashion “shoots”. The results were always nothing less than fabulous. So when it came to my own images, I looked no further than Erica.

Erica originally hails from Los Olivos, California, about half and hour north of Santa Barbara. She has always had a passion for photography, as it gives one the opportunity to have a closer, more honest and intimate insight into life. As they say, the camera doesn’t lie. But the person who inspired her to take it up seriously was Erica’s first husband, Bob Evans. Bob is a well known underwater photographer based in California, and is responsible for the many stunning underwater and wildlife photography in publications such as National Geographic and Skin Diver Magazine.

Erica’s career began assisting Bob in his underwater shoots, diving with him and looking out for him while he shot. After their marriage ended, a difficult period in Erica’s life, she found a job with a theatre company in Santa Barbara, acting, photographing and getting involved with publicity. They were a wild and wonderful couple of years. Erica found love with a visiting actor, who then took her back with him to his home, the “Big Apple”, New York City.

Compared to relaxed and sunny Santa Barbara, the mad pace of New York City presented Erica with her first serious culture shock. This was 1980, and Erica was living in the heart of New York’s financial district, Wall Street, just below the World Trade Centre. During that time, authorities, in their wisdom, had decided to close down the largest mental institution, and the streets were subsequently filled with homeless mental patients with nowhere to go. Erica was too scared to go out for days.

Slowly, she ventured outside, and after a year, she grew to love the excitement of New York City. She attended the German School of Photography, where she studied lighting and large format cameras. She received honours for her work “Portrait of a Homeless Man”. Through the school, she gained experience as an assistant to other leaders in the field of photography, such as Jamie Phillips, Leif Schiller, Lars Lonninge, Stephen Armitage, and many more. She began to pick up other work for publicity shots from theatre companies, actors head shots, and film strips for education. Her insights and experiences into her craft, not to mention her portfolio, grew exponentially.

New York was also an unforgiving place in the 80’s, and Erica found herself becoming increasingly distressed by friends dying of AIDS and muggings. The last straw for her came in the form of a friend getting shot. Erica decided that she no longer wanted to spend her life looking over her shoulder. She packed her bags and headed as far away from New York as she could go. She was a novice at travelling, but she knew that she wanted a place where the weather was warm and the spoken language was English. She couldn’t get much further than Australia.

After a long stopover in Hawaii for about a month, and after having spent most of her money, she landed in Sydney with little money in her pocket and her camera gear. She was alone and broke. She sat down in the airport and cried as she realized the enormity of her decision.

Unable to return to the United States on $300, she decided to get resourceful and find work with a studio that did regular work for Grace Bros./Myers. She soon found work with Cumming Agency, who had an inhouse studio, and she stayed with them for 2 years. She found herself becoming increasingly busy, doing catalogue and advertising shoots.

Erica also had the opportunity to work independently of Cumming, as she put together a photography exhibition of “Women in Jazz”, which appeared at the MCA and the Seymour Centre. She won first prize, the “Professional Photographic Award” as well as a camera, for her portrait called “Angel In A Bottle”.

Eventually, Erica met her second husband Wayne, had a beautiful son named “Sam”, and opened her own photographic studio. She has had plenty of work ever since.

When I asked Erica, “What aspects of your job do you absolutely love?” , she said,” I love that it’s creative and technical at the same time, and I love that it’s different every single day. Sometimes we are out on location doing a fashion shoot, and sometimes we are in the studio, getting to know a new person by doing their portrait. And other times, I get obsessed about the way the lighting is affecting the look of a wine bottle, or some other product. It never stops changing. Another day, another experience.”

As a busy career woman, I was interested in how Erica juggled her obvious passion for her work and quality time with her family. To this, Erica responds,” When my son was 6 months old, my husband was seriously injured at work. So we started an arrangement where he looked after Sam while I worked, rather than putting Sam in day care, which I was loathe to do. It was the best arrangement, because I was really feeling the pressure of having to work and look after Sam at the same time. Clients don’t really care what’s going on with you on a personal level. They have deadlines to meet and they just want the job done. So Wayne stayed at home, looked after Sam, did the accounts for the business, and cooked and cleaned as well. Fifteen years later, and our system is still working well! I get to spend quality time with my husband and son on the weekends, without the guilt, and we’re all happy and fulfilled.”

20 years on from her first arrival into Sydney, Erica still calls Australia home. I am sitting in her studio, “Lot 7”, perched on a block covered in fabric, propped up on 2 cushions. I feel awkward, and ill at ease. Erica’s has gone to work on me, chatting and snapping away, putting me at ease. Within an hour, I am relaxing, having a blast and being myself. Ben Kelly, another photographer who works with Erica and hails from NZ, has the same relaxed, down-to-earth demeanor, and he encourages me to have the odd peak at the progress of the shoot recorded on the laptop, as he works on the colour adjustments. Erica continues to shoot away, prompting me to change poses, to look here and there, coaching me on which angles look the best. From the tense wooden expressions initially captured at the start of the shoot, I begin to see a more relaxed “me” staring back from the laptop screen, and I am amazed at the results. I begin to understand that Erica’s gift as a photographer only begins with her technical ability, but continues way beyond the technical. It is her great sensitivity, borne out of her own struggles and challenges, that enables her to capture the true essence, and indeed the soul, of any subject.

Erica Murray, a remarkable woman and photographer, we salute you.

Erica Murray
Lot 7 Studio
Ph: +61 2 9565 2972
Fx: +61 2 9565 2973
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Lot 7, 20-28 Maddox Street,
Alexandria, NSW 2015 - Australia