Shirley's House / photography

Whanganui, 8th - 9th Feb, 2019
It's the soft simplicity of the evening light in Shirley's house. Pulled drapes across old faded nets, yellow light flooding through the living room. The smell of old floral reeds and a thick coat of dust reminds you of just how old this house really is.
I like the way a place can feel so familiar just by the way it smells or the tacky feel of the lino floor underneath your feet. The sound of the large golden clock hitting the hour with a groan as if to say "I've been hanging on this wall for far too long." She's 96 now, the house even older. The wood panelled walls seem to whisper with secrets, stories of a life well lived in a home full of love and laughter. Each room holds memories of my childhood, sacred and special, now forever preserved in photographs. This is a collection from Shirley's House.

Contact me at bellafosterart@gmail.com if you have any questions or wish to purchase any of the below images.


'Table Setting' - Bella Foster 2019


'Fake Plastic Trees' - Bella Foster 2019


'Martinis' - Bella Foster 2019


'Slow Roast' - Bella Foster 2019


'The Top Shelf' - Bella Foster 2019


'The Naughty Corner' - Bella Foster 2019


'Home Cooked' - Bella Foster 2019


'Fitzherbert Ave' - Bella Foster 2019


'Lost Keys' - Bella Foster 2019


'Coca Cola' - Bella Foster 2019


'Shortbread' - Bella Foster 2019


'Onion Picking' - Bella Foster 2019


'Breakfast At Dusk' - Bella Foster 2019


'The Lemon Room' - Bella Foster 2019


'The Bottom Shelf' - Bella Foster 2019


'Evening Light' - Bella Foster 2019


'Shirley's Tomatoes' - Bella Foster 2019

Melbourne Chinatown / photography

Back in December of 2017 I was lucky enough to spend a few nights away in Melbourne, a city I had been wanting to visit for years. I fell in love with the area we were staying in, Fitzroy, our apartment overlooking a busy street of stylish shops and cafes and a never ending sea of rooftop bars. It was mostly overcast weather for the time that we were there, which I loved because the heat was just enough to make walking around and exploring very manageable.
When looking at photos I have taken on a trip my creative process often involves leaving the images for a while, to let the whole experience marinade in my mind. That way I can go back to them with fresh eyes and a different way of viewing them, as art. In this case the photos remained long forgotten on my hard drive for over a year, making the discovery all the more exciting. This is one of my smaller collections, however I decided to stick with my signature style of pairing photos together to communicate my story. In this case I focused less on people and more on the environment of Melbourne, especially Melbourne Chinatown, which I visited briefly on my way to meet a friend. I was overwhelmed with what a different feel this small pocket of Melbourne had to it. The colours, the people and the shops were all drastically different, it truly did feel like I was in a different country altogether. This inspired me to create unexpected pairings, contrasting the two parts of Melbourne that I found so interesting and different, whilst still highlighting my signature colours and pink tones.

Contact me at bellafosterart@gmail.com if you have any questions or wish to purchase any of the below images.


'Sea of Lanterns' - Bella Foster 2017


'24 Hour Surveillance' - Bella Foster 2017


'Always A Good Time' - Bella Foster 2017


'Table For Two' - Bella Foster 2017


'Bimbo Beach' - Bella Foster 2017


'Chinatown' - Bella Foster 2017


'The Viet Rose' - Bella Foster 2017

New York City / photography

This is a collection of photographs from my trip to America mid last year. We visited Los Angeles for a few days to see family and then I laid my eyes on the big apple for the first time ever. It was crazy being in a city that was so familiar, having seen it in movies and TV for my whole life and yet it felt so different to what I had expected. We stayed at a small air bnb in Brooklyn (Bedford-Stuyvesant) so we got the full New York experience. The bustling chaos of New York was overwhelming and I wanted to translate this into my photography, yet almost viewing things through rose tinted glass, creating a slightly more clam and toned down feel.
These images are a small fraction of the things I noticed through the eye of my camera. Picking up similar pink and yellow tones to my previous series, however I wanted to capture the grittiness of this crazy city through my photos, giving them a different look to my previous work. Again, I have chosen to pair images together to tell my story, creating a relationship between unexpected things and people.

Contact me at bellafosterart@gmail.com if you have any questions or wish to purchase any of the below images.


'Dumbo & Dumber' - Bella Foster 2018


'High Rise' - Bella Foster 2018


'Golden Syrup Cruise' - Bella Foster 2018


'Solitude' - Bella Foster 2018


'New York's Finest' - Bella Foster 2018


'Lost in Translation' - Bella Foster 2018


'Roundabout' - Bella Foster 2018


'Guggenheim' - Bella Foster 2018


'Outside Looking In' - Bella Foster 2018


'Carousel Bride' - Bella Foster 2018

Visionary Nature - 2017

My first exhibition with Ventana, held in 2017 was a collection consisting of the best sellers from my Santa Monica and Martinborough photographs. I shared the gallery space with another artist and the exhibition ran for a few months, attracting many different people who were interested in 'Visionary Nature'. I also exhibited these prints through The NZ Art Show in 2017, reaching a wider market.

Contact me at bellafosterart@gmail.com if you have any questions or wish to purchase any of the below images.

'Hot Wheels' - Bella Foster 2017

'Ferris Wheels Day Off' - Bella Foster 2017

'Don't Quit Your Day Job' - Bella Foster 2017

'Pacific Park' - Bella Foster 2017

'Santa & Monica' - Bella Foster 2017

'A Few Too Many Vines - Bella Foster 2017

'Twin Posts' - Bella Foster 2017

'Drive Through' - Bella Foster 2017

'Peaks' - Bella Foster 2017