Chatting with Chamilka Jayawardana… 

For Chamilka Jayawardana, photography is what she feels expresses herself best. A Sri Lankan born photographer and founder of CJ Photography, Chamilka is currently residing and based in Melbourne, where she specializes in maternity, newborn, children and family portraits – a field of photography which hasn’t quite caught on in Sri Lanka. 

CJ Photography specializes in maternity, newborn, children and families, and a select number of weddings per year. Her style is authentic and shows connection between people, as she wants to move away from old-fashioned forms of portraiture with stiff poses, which she says cannot be done with children anyway. Qualified in Commerce and Arts (Economics and French Major), Chamilka spent her early career years as an Economic Analyst, progressing into managerial roles, and she ventured into photography after she became a mother, thereby finding her passion through children. 

Having spent the past two weeks in Sri Lanka, Chamilka travelled across the island dabbling in travel photography. “I want a photograph of mine to have a story behind it,” she says. From a portrait of a young novice monk to a Veddah to even a photograph of the majestic Queens Hotel in Kandy at dusk, Chamilka’s work is simple yet powerful. Her favourite location so far has been Ella, which she says is so small yet so pretty. She was also able to do a few maternity and newborn photo shoots before she headed back to Melbourne last weekend. 

What brought her to Sri Lanka? Even though Chamilka was born here, she moved to Zambia along with her family at an early age, and after she moved back, she schooled at Methodist College, and then moved to England to complete her education, after which she migrated to Australia. 

“I’ve discovered that as you grow older, your roots become more important to you. It’s like an adopted child wanting to know more about their biological parents… your mind is not at peace until you have somehow established a connection to your roots. That is what has brought me to Sri Lanka. I would like to give back to Sri Lanka both in terms of servicing clients with this genuine, heartfelt portraiture and help the photography industry as a whole but mentoring existing photographers who are interested in this field and would otherwise need to travel overseas for such training,” she explained. 

She’s offered mentoring back in Melbourne and has just started photography / camera workshops. Combined with her love for teaching along with her love for Sri Lanka, Chamilka is combining the two and is offering photography workshops for tourists in a guided tour around Sri Lanka. “This is the reason behind my latest trip here - to capture images that show the authentic Sri Lanka - our lifestyle, our culture and our genuine people. After all, even in the tourism industry, travellers are now seeking genuine experiences and connections with the people they meet and the places they visit, not merely cheap souvenirs that will eventually collect dust on their mantelpieces!” 

Chamilka’s work can be found on her Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ChamilkaJPhotography). 

By Sarah Kellapatha