A master of her craft

Virginia Woolf's passion for photography has taken her around the world, picking up accolades as she goes. The latest sees her recognised among the very best.

Words by Judene Edgar

Virginia Woolf’s first big purchase after she graduated with a degree in food science from the University of Otago, was a second-hand Canon SLR camera that she bought off her brother. “As a poor student I couldn’t afford a decent camera, so I was stoked to finally be able to get one,” she says. Photography, accompanied by endless hours in the darkroom, remained a hobby while she focused on her food science career, developing, testing, and marketing new food products. But all this changed 15 years ago when she joined a campaign shoot for the Kathmandu Outdoor brand in Morocco as part of their Summit Members Club.

“As I followed the photographer around my passion for photography was re-ignited. One day we were descending Jebel Toubkal, the highest peak in the Atlas Mountains, and I just had to capture the extreme beauty of the barren landscape. I was still shooting with film back then and I only had one frame left, with no additional rolls of film, so I borrowed the photographer’s digital camera to dial in the correct exposure settings and the photo ended up being published as a double page spread in the Kathmandu catalogue. From that moment on I was hooked – and it was the last time I used my film camera!” It was also the end of her food science career and the “corporate rut” she’d found herself stuck in.

She went on to complete a Graduate Diploma in Photographic Design at the School of Fine Arts at Massey University. “I was the oldest student and one of few amongst my classmates who knew about film cameras, but I learned so much about digital photography.” While studying, she entered a competition in D-Photo travel magazine to assist an award-winning travel photographer on a two-week shoot in Papua New Guinea. She submitted her portfolio of images she’d taken while in Morocco — and she won! “I ended up photo assisting and shooting behind the scenes for four years and travelled all over the world – Fiji, Australia, China, Japan, Samoa, USA.”

During this time, she also worked part-time for Fairfax Media as a press photographer, a role she held for over 10 years. While there, she was a finalist in the 2013 Canon Media Awards Press Photographer of the Year – Junior, as well as the PANPA Awards Sports Photographer of the Year. “It was both invaluable in helping me to hone my skills for the commercial work that my photography career has taken me to – you had to think fast and act fast and relate to people from all walks of life – much of which still applies on outdoor, architecture, and corporate portrait shoots.” Due to its proximity to water bodies and mountains, Virginia says that living in Nelson has also been an important part of her photographic journey, as she loves the outdoors and prefers nature as her studio.

Always keen to use her photography to tell stories and support change, her latest personal project, Final Meltdown, about climate change glacier melt, is in response to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. “Some of the findings horrified me. I’ve always loved mountains and ice and snow, so I was devastated to know how much Fox Glacier had receded in the past 10 years alone.” (900m in the decade to 2018).

As a photographer who’s also lived in Canada with an appreciation for the big mountains and glaciers, Virginia felt that she had a responsibility to both capture the beauty of our glaciers while they’re still here, “so people can see what we have”, but also to highlight their rapid disappearance. She’s working alongside Dr Heather Purdie, one of New Zealand’s leading glaciologists, documenting her work. “It’s a great opportunity to highlight one of our unsung heroes, to elevate her critical work and to put a face to the research and science. It’s devastating that Fox Glacier is no longer readily accessible by foot and is only available by helicopter. The connection between people and nature is so important, and that’s missing here now. We all need to make changes to help it slow down, for the sake of future generations.”

Final Meltdown is supported by Canon New Zealand and Australia in recognition of her honour of being named a Canon Master. One of only a handful of Canon Masters throughout Australasia, Canon Masters are selected by invitation only in recognition of their skill, tenacity, patience and hard work. When she first received the email, her initial reaction was one of doubt. “I thought it might have been spam. It was totally out of the blue, but I’m so humbled and honoured to be asked, and to find out that there are only four Canon Masters in New Zealand is very surprising; I was blown away.”

In preparation for the 70th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary’s ascent of Mt Everest alongside Tenzing Norgay on 29 May 1953, she’s currently in Nepal thanks to the Asia New Zealand Foundation. A “bucket-list destination”, as well as being part of the photography project to support the anniversary celebrations, Virginia is also going to take the opportunity to document the lives of Sherpa women and profile the past and present principals of Khumjung School, the first of many educational institutions that Sir Edmund built for the Sherpa people. She’s also wanting to give back while she’s in Nepal, and is currently fundraising for the Himalayan Trust, which was established and lead by Sir Edmund until his death in 2008, to improve the health, education and general well-being of people living in the Solukhumbu District of Nepal (fundraise.himalayantrust.org/virginia-woolf).

Not one to stand still, she’s recently stepped out from behind the camera for the new five-part documentary series Xīn xī lán (which means New Zealand), which explores what it means to be New Zealand Chinese, the unique racism that attracts, and how they’ve helped shape New Zealand. Virginia’s original involvement in the project was as a stills photographer and creative producer, but she soon found herself being a subject and presenter. Born and bred in Gisborne, Virginia is New Zealand Chinese, part of a group who are often seen as new immigrants, despite the earliest Chinese arrivals starting from 1865. While she was prepared to brush casual, and not-so-casual, racism aside when she was younger, she says that as you get older these things become more important. “Being asked where you’re really from repeatedly, or being complimented on your English skills, reinforces that I’m different.” Her uncle, Meng Foon, former mayor of Gisborne and New Zealand’s Race Relations Commissioner since 2019, is also part of the Xīn xī lán project which was launched 24 September to mark Chinese Language Week.

Whether it’s photographing luxury resorts in Fiji, fighting the advances of a Papua New Guinean chief who needed a fourth wife, eating pig entrails in Japan, or sleeping under the stars in the Sahara, Virginia is committed to telling stories through her lens and also supporting women, who she says need to be better represented in the industry. “It’s important for me to support and be part of the Women’s Work NZ Collective to help make change.” She’s been part of two Women’s Work NZ Collective exhibitions recently and with less than 16% of photographers in the advertising world being women, she says that female photographers need to be more visible and better represented in the creative industry.