Two Jackets and Some Roadside Bushes in Glebe

Sydney photographer Daphne Nguyen described the shoot like this: We snuck out of uni and took the bus through Glebe Town, hanging around in back alleys. The changing room was two jackets and a couple of roadside bushes. That’s the whole production. And the result, shot for Sticks & Stones Agency, looks like it was made by someone who knows exactly what they’re doing and doesn’t need much more than good light and the right subject.

The right subject here is Avalon Ible, styled by Yana, and I am completely gone for her. There’s a particular quality that Australian women sometimes have in photographs—some combination of the light and a kind of physical ease in front of the camera—and Avalon has it in a way that makes the whole series feel effortless even though it obviously isn’t. She’s the reason I will never stop paying attention to what comes out of Sydney.

Daphne’s eye is sharp in a way that’s easy to underestimate at first glance. The casualness of the compositions is deliberate—nothing here is accidental. This shoot is probably my favorite thing she’s done.