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About the Photographer
Hi!
I'm Lucky,
the person behind the lens
I'm Lucky Frawley, a Photography Studies College student based in Naarm (Melbourne).
My work is grounded in performance; the people, places, and the fleeting, intimate moments that often happen just out of sight. I work closely with independent artists and small creative communities, focusing on live performance, behind-the-scenes documentation, and storytelling through still images. My approach is collaborative, intuitive, and often shaped by curiosity and connection.
The Butterfly Club has held a quiet significance for me for many years. It was one of the first venues I visited when I came to Melbourne. We saw a show a friend-of-a-friend was in, and as soon as I stepped inside, I felt like it was calling me. There was something about this space that felt like home before I'd even lived in Melbourne.
This project explores themes of identity and place, focusing on The Butterfly Club and the people connected to it. It’s a way for me to examine what performance spaces mean - not just to audiences, but to the artists who live, rehearse, and rebuild themselves within them. I’m also experimenting with ideas around the indecisive moment, and expanding how I approach image-making as a result.
This website acts as a living archive, a place for visual research, process reflection, and ongoing conceptual development.
Why do I LOVE Performance Photography?
That deep, raw emotion? It grabs me The buzz, the hush, the belly laughs, and the hush before the roar. I’m after that spark in every shot. Not just the image, but the pulse, the messy, beautiful magic that connects us beyond words.
I’ve always been drawn to performance. Maybe because I’ve been around shows so much. My partner and friends work and perform in theatres, and so I’ve spent years quietly watching artists light up rooms, onstage and off. Even in the little moments of side-of-stage chats and pre-show rituals, you can feel it: they’re doing what they love. And there’s a kind of everyday magic in that. That’s what made me pick up my camera with purpose.
When I watch a performance, my whole world drops away. Time stops and everything from my usual day-to-day noise fades out. Maybe it's partly because of my neurodivergence, but the lighting, the movement, the intention on stage pulls me in completely. It’s like a shortcut to a soul-to-soul chat, where every feeling, every detail, lands right in my chest.
Performance happens in a blink. Glitter cannons, water sprays, quiet connections with your audience, and total chaos all at once. Photography is the pause button that holds those wild, fleeting moments still. I’ve stopped time on some pretty incredible stuff and that frozen magic is ours to keep, to look back on, and to feel again.
Performers never get to watch themselves perform. I get to be the one who does, then show it back to you. And because I have Aphantasia (I can’t see images in my head), every frame I shoot becomes my memory too. That makes each shot doubly precious - your chance to relive the moment and mine to understand it.