We delved into the unique visual ability of Petra Leary, an award-winning New Zealand-born aerial photographer who redefined the beautiful match of bird’s eye angles, colors and composition of basketball courts among other landscapes.

Words by Gianmarco Pacione

Where does your love for symmetry and geometry come from and why you decided to apply it to basketball courts photography?

Before becoming a photographer, I studied graphic design and that’s where my love for symmetry of natural elements comes from. By chance when I started flying drones one of the first thing I shot was a basketball court and the graphic elements of it just captured me since that day. I love the apparent simplicity of basketball courts, they seem to have the same formula but can also be very different.

What do you see in basketball court that is not present in other sports playing grounds?

I shot also tennis courts and football pitches. They’re cool but there’s something more interesting about basketball courts: their patterns and the community of people you get to meet in there. Here in Auckland, Park Life have invested resources to bring to life so many courts with different bright colors that I love.

Tell us about Zero Gravity and how you envision those kinds of projects evolving in the future.

The Zero Gravity exhibition included a year-and-a-half of photos and videos that I shot with a crew called Auckland Ballers. I went around many gyms with the objective of merging different patterns that felt immersive but also abstract at the same time.

In regard to the future, there’re limitless creative opportunities and I’m currently learning to develop 3D visuals. Recently I collaborated with a guy in Ireland, he took three of my photos and turned them into crazy animations. That inspired me to adapt similar motion works to my imagery.

How do you see your work influencing the basketball culture in New Zealand and beyond?

The basketball culture here is pretty big and the game is getting more and more popular in outdoor courts. There’s one court with lamps in Auckland and you can always find it packed even at night. I’ve experienced the impact that my work had on people’s approach to the game: someone reached out telling me how they inspired they were to go out and play or follow basketball, both in New Zealand and in other countries. It’s very humbling and it energizes me.