Photography and me

Thanks to Caroline for this shot of me

When I was a kid, my Dad was a photographer. I used to feel a sense of magic seeing an image appear as he processed film in his darkroom, and loved watching him take photos at a wedding or in his portrait studio (AKA our lounge room). And I always knew that I, too, wanted to take great shots one day.

But I stuck to safe ground for a long time - point and shoot cameras, followed by SLRs in auto mode. And I've got some good photos from that safety.

These days I aim for more than "good" in the things I love.

In part, my photography is personal - I want beautiful photos of my girls, to capture exactly who they are at a moment in time. Photos are my memory, too; something I rely on as a reminder of good times and the things I've done.

It's also work. As a travel writer, my photos are often called upon to accompany an article, and I've noticed them being my downfall lately. I've lost work because my photos haven't been great enough, or my writing has been accompanied by stock photos because mine can't be used. I've had magazines tell me they only want to hear my ideas if my photos are "amazing" and "something special" - and I run away fast. I've also had some successes where both my words and photos sit side by side, but it feels a bit hit-and-miss.

My photos are good, but they (usually) aren't amazing. I want to change that.

What's held me back until now has been a mindset: that I'm good at the creative side of photography but not what I think of as the "scientific" or technical side. All the terms and rules just wouldn't stick in my head. But it's hard to have one without the other - exactly why I've been feeling lacking.

Angie Baxter (right) helping my bestie, Mel

This weekend I went to Angie Baxter's Love Your Camera workshop and learnt so much. She's helped me marry the technical with the creative, by explaining it so clearly and being so generous in sharing her knowledge.

My aim now is to not only shoot in manual mode all the time, but to better enjoy my creative side by using my technical knowledge, turning my photos into what I want them to be rather than just however they turn out.

I think the reason I want to be a better photographer was summed up when Angie played a slideshow at the end of the workshop. Showing some of her work photographing children and families, I became teary at the sheer joy and emotion in her images. It's the same as my writing: I want to make myself and other people feel something.

Something great.


(I attended the workshop with thanks to my lovely husband giving it to me as a birthday present!)