Grace Costa’s striking National Photographic Portrait Prize 2023 entry

When this flame-haired, sunburnt boy crossed paths with Grace Costa on holiday, she didn’t miss the opportunity.

Portrait of Zachary, by Grace Costa

It was the colour red that made Grace Costa sit up and take notice. She was on a camping holiday on the NSW south coast in January, relaxing with her ­husband and their infant daughter, when this young lad emerged from a caravan on the far side of the campsite, flame-haired and sunburnt, wearing a smart new shirt.

“I ­instantly thought, ‘This is one for the National Photographic Portrait Prize!’” says Costa, a commercial photographer from ­Canberra. The annual competition has a special place in her heart: she has entered every year for the past 15 years, to test her creative skills.

So she went over to ask young Zachary Gale and his parents if she could take his portrait. Sure, they said. And when she turned her camera on him, well, a little bit of magic happened, didn’t it? The image is a finalist in the Prize, which opens at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra on June 17.

Zac, 12, was at the South Durras campsite with his two ­sisters, his parents and an extended family group of about 25 people, who meet up every summer for a beach holiday ­together. He’d changed into this shirt – a Christmas present from his mum and dad – because they were all about to head into nearby Batemans Bay for lunch to celebrate his cousin Olivia’s birthday.

Zac is a mad-keen sportsman: he captains an under-14s soccer side at home in Shepparton, Victoria, and is the opening batsman for the local cricket team, too. His dream is to one day play Test cricket for Australia.

What makes a photo portrait special? It’s “that tangible sense of encounter, that mystery that comes with knowing that you’re seeing someone through someone else’s eyes”, according to the blurb for this year’s Prize.

Costa likes the way various compositional elements riff off each other here: the botanical shirt and the bush background; the red hair and the flowers on the bush behind Zac.

It’s his expression, too, of course. “Very intense for a 12-year-old!” she says. “He decided to show himself in that way. He completely showed up for the moment, with vulnerability and honesty.”

And the story of that red face? It’s one any parent will ­recognise. “We’d been in the ocean the day before, and I ­forgot to reapply sunscreen,” says Zac, a little sheepishly. “I really copped it from Mum and Dad over that!”