There are those of us who prefer to ignore our adolescence. We shudder to recall the awkward encounters, the endless days of self-pitting anguish and the embarrassing ideologies. And then there is Charlie Brophy, the twenty-year-old Melbourne based freelance photographer who embraces this rite of passage by centring her work on the rawness of youth and the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Her work is full of contrasting emotions: Light meets dark, confidence meets insecurity, innocence meets sexuality… In this way, Brophy is fully able to explore youth, identity and everything else that comes with growing up. On her pure fascination with the formative years, Brophy explains “the idea of growing up in different demographics while discovering one's identity fascinates me. The ambiguity of youth, the unlined faces, the level of vulnerability and the diversity of adolescence is what intrigues me most.” 

Taking inspiration from personal experiences and the everyday, Brophy aims to capture something raw, something which is not artificially forced and focuses on intimate portraits that portray something personal and real which she finds in photographing those around her in every day scenarios. “A lot of the themes explored in my work are reflective of personal experiences in my own life,” says Brophy, “particularly the exploration of youth, self-identity, sexuality, freedom and the transition of adolescence… My greatest inspiration is my fascination with youthful innocence and the loss of such purity. Simple things like a beam of natural light, intricate shadows, discovering foreign places, writing and watching movies can motivate my work. I have admired the work of Nan Goldin from a young age and her way of documenting the freedom of youth authentically. Her ability to use imagery as a direct transcription of lived experience has always inspired me.” With such realistic and emotive themes, which are impossible not to relate to in some way,