When you’ve only been taking photos for about five years, you should feel a slight sense of accomplishment after being named a frequent award-winner in the Picture Plymouth photo contest. But Elizabeth Ansley’s approach is a more humble one: She opted to volunteer to judge the 2013 competition in lieu of participating, so Winter Walk in West Medicine Lake Park will be the last image we feature for at least a year.
This is bittersweet for us at Plymouth Magazine, but predictably Ansley’s career is taking off. This image, for example, was shot in January 2012, and will hopefully be featured as a future book cover. “I was trying to express a girl deep in thought taking a walk on a cold day to clear her head,” Ansley says. “I am inspired to take photos that tell a story.”
With book-cover photographer as her official “full-time gig,” it’s exciting to know that most of the 150 published covers she’s worked on worldwide were shot in Plymouth. “I like the diverse woods and lakes in town,” she says, “and I do like the area around West Medicine Lake Park where this image was shot. It has a lot of interesting background features.”
Ansley has lived in Plymouth with husband Chris and daughters Chaeli, 18, Georgia, 15, and Niamh, 6, since 2003, but also lived in Australia for almost three years between 2008 and 2011. The family recently adopted a dog named Alfie.
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Winter Walk in West Medicine Lake Park was a winner in 2012’s Picture Plymouth. Turn to this page next month for the first of the winners from the 2013 photo contest.
