How Leila saw birds anew

Conversations | Radio National

Presented by Sally Sara, Broadcast on ABC RN Thursday 20 June 2024

Leila Jeffreys' family loved adventure and the great outdoors.

Leila was born in the wilds of Papua New Guinea, and grew up in Western Australia. Her family also spent time living in a village in India, then on a houseboat in Kashmir.

When Leila grew up she decided she wanted to become a photographer.

But when she tried her hand at life as a freelancer she realised right away that it was utterly wrong for her. 

One day she decided to build a small studio to photograph birds, and smuggled a posse of budgies into her workplace at the time to make some portraits of them.

In the process, she began her life as a bird photographer and invented an entirely new genre of art photography.