Taranaki Arts Trail: Kapuni photographer to display animal portraits

The image Penny Brooks captured of a leopard drinking. Photo / Penny Brooks

"I have so many beautiful photos of dogs and wildlife, it doesn't seem right for them to just sit on my computer. I want to give other people the chance to view them."

Kapuni photographer Penny Brooks is entering the Taranaki Arts Trail for the first time this year and says the decision to open her studio was made while looking through her photos.

"I've been photographing dogs and wildlife for so many years. I believe wildlife is an unexplored genre in photography, and I want to bring forward the amazing images that can be captured of both New Zealand wildlife and animals from overseas."

During the arts trail, Penny will showcase the pick of her wildlife portraits.

"I have a beautiful photo of wild deer in Waiouru. I also managed to take a photograph of Kaimanawa wild horses while I was there as well. I also have plenty of photos of birds and take portraits of dogs, which are always fun to capture."

While Penny loves photographing all types of animals, she says her main interest is African wildlife.

"It's where my heart is."

She has a range of photos of African wildlife that she took while on photography tours.

"In 2019, I was lucky enough to encounter a leopardess. I managed to get a photo of her jumping from a tree onto an impala, which she killed for her and her young cub to feed on. I followed them for four days. This was a very rare occurrence. Not many people have experienced it and I feel so privileged to have that experience."

Penny says leopards are one of her favourites.

"I love taking photos of them. Another favourite is wild dogs, which I managed to get a photo of as they ran through a herd of elephants."

She returned from her recent trip to Africa earlier this month and is sorting through her photos.

"I have so many images from my time over there. I was pleased to finally travel over there again. I was meant to travel there again in 2020, and then 2021, but due to Covid-19, I was unable to. I won the 2019 Pangolin Photo Safaris award, which was a cash prize. I was going to use that to travel in 2020, but luckily they held it until I could travel this year."

She has also used some of her images to publish art books which will be available for purchase during the arts trail.

"I have some from books that feature photos from my 2019 trip and I'm also working on one of this year's trip. One of my favourites I took this year was of a leopard drinking."

She is looking forward to sharing her work with others.

"I can't wait to see what people think."

■ Penny Brooks will have her studio open for the Taranaki Arts Trail. Her works can be found at 826 Manaia Road, Kapuni.