Sean Davey's new photographic exhibition opens in Manuka

Canberra photographer Sean Davey has a new exhibition at the Manuka Arts Centre offering a preview of love, life and family in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

Sean first visited Port Moresby in 2005 on an invitation and it has taken him a decade to capture these personal images in his exhibition.

His inspiration comes from his desire to take photographs that tell stories.

Manuka Arts Centre is displaying his photographs as single shots, collages and contact prints.

All Sean's photographs are film-based and are mostly monotone. He believes black and white images are rich in texture and tone.

Many photographers believe black and white photography enhances the subjects but Sean believes colour can be distracting at times.

"Black and white is part of the process of developing the films in to photographs from scratch and they bring out the output with its unique raw energy," he said.

One of the main reasons he chose film-based photography so that he was not constantly looking back and trying to improve the shot.

Sean will give a public talk about his work on May 24 at the gallery. His exhibition is on until May 24.