Photo Diary: Zachary Leo
Photo Credit: Mission Brown Vintage
Hang up your disco ball and put your disco shoes on because Zachary Leo has a brand-spanking new single. Released last week, ‘Pretty Girl’ sounds like it belongs as much in 1977 as it does in 2023.
To celebrate the release of ‘Pretty Girl’, Zachary has put together a photo diary for your viewing pleasure. So here we go…
This is a photo taken by the incredible Jess Nikitina-Li from my first ever Zachary Leo photoshoot. I had no idea what to do for the shoot, so I just sat on my letterbox and we used the sky as the backdrop which ended up being super cool. I just remember the excitement that I had at this time as it felt like the start of something special.
This is a shot taken by Brook McKeon backstage at The Workers Club before one of my sold-out shows a few years back! Brook has this amazing ability to capture moments. This photo just makes me feel so happy as it’s filled with people I love and people who have helped me become the artist and person I am today. My band and I were so nervous before this show!
This photo was taken by the amazing Valentina Moroney from my recent photoshoot for ‘Pretty Girl’. We had just finished the shoot and we were both relieved that we had made it through as it was a super-hot day and I had been wearing sweaters and woollen vests all afternoon. This was taken at Mission Brown HQ, where the music video was also filmed.
Another cool shot by Brook McKeon from my very first Zachary Leo show at The Grace Darling Hotel in Melbourne. It was such an intimate (and super sweaty) show, and I will never forget it. The thing I love the most about this shot is my lack of variety in the pedal department. I was running two overdrive/distortion pedals, a tuner, and a wah pedal. The simplicity of this show was evident, but I was still able to convey to everyone what I was trying to do.
A cool shot taken by the awesome Dylan Jardine during the recording of ‘So Good’ and ‘Can’t Get Enough’ at The Aviary Studios in Abbotsford in 2020. This is definitely not my best angle, but this was the first time I had recorded live for any of my songs, and the groove and energy we created in the studio was euphoric. This was a cool moment for me, and I am so grateful Dylan got to capture it.
Taken by photo genius Kyle Caufield from the ‘Can’t Get Enough’ shoot last year. This was originally meant to be the cover art for the song, but I felt it needed more pinks and blues and I loved some of the other shots we had taken earlier that day. I have always loved this shot and thought it was a cool idea that I just never ended up using. We shot this in an old laundromat that had these beautiful rich colours.
Taken back in 2014 when I loved writing sad acoustic songs, is a rare photo of me busking in Warracknabeal, Victoria. I had just broken my collarbone playing footy and was probably 3 weeks post-surgery so was struggling quite a bit and of course, I was rocking my favourite Red Hot Chili Peppers t-shirt.
I had so much trouble taking this photo. I am not a photographer, and I am not great with phones, so I reckon it took me a good 20 minutes to figure out how to take this, but this was going to be the first photo for my announcement of the Zachary Leo project back in 2019. I was also going to use it to promote ‘Lay You Down’ before I went and reached out to my friend Jess to take some photos for me. This photo for me symbolizes the beginning of Zachary Leo.
This is a shot from the recording sessions of my EP ‘Feels’. I recorded and produced the whole EP on my own in a little studio in Ferntree Gully, Victoria. This shot was taken by Wilhelm Philipp, an incredible Melbourne photographer who also shot the cover of the EP.