My Journey to Professional Photography – Part 1
Professional Photographer – Like many things in life, capturing photos is something that ceased when I went to university. It was only when I had my first son Jayden, that I picked up my camera again. The difference in time had meant a change from film to digital, a whole new world. And considering the whole new world I was now living, it seemed pretty apt that the world of photography had changed as much as I had.
I grew up in South Africa and came over to the UK in 2008. As a teenager in high school, I was part of the Photography club. I used to spend an hour once a week learning about different aspects of Photography. Covering things like history, film and developing. We would have various homework tasks and different subjects to capture each week. My favourite subject was always African sunsets. Many of these captures included climbing on the roof of our house to get more of the subject in the frame. Not one of my smartest moves, but when you’re young, you don’t think too much of the repercussions. Luckily for me, I didn’t have any accidents.
My teenage years were a lot about writing and photography. I was second shooter at a school fair and captured numerous photos of sunsets. Once I left high school and started university, my independence became the most powerful aspect of my life. I made the most of it. But they say too much of a good thing, isn’t always a good thing. My university days studying a Batchelor of Arts – Media and Communication and Law – passed fairly quickly in a haze of, almost, 7 days a week partying. I wasn’t living at home at the time and therefore answered to no one.
Upon leaving university, I got jobs in estate agencies. My Mom was an estate agent at the time and I started working for her first, before moving across country. I had been briefly dating someone my first few months after leaving university. And despite the short amount of time we were together, I cared for him deeply. However, the complexities surrounding our relationship made it ‘easier’ to walk away, or in my case, move across country. Moving from a big city to a quiet, little town. Or as some South Africans may say ‘klein dorpie’.
White River, and the surrounding areas, were absolutely beautiful, including the world famous Kruger National Park. I think back now and realise how many photographic opportunities I missed in my time there. I had hardly even touched a camera since high school. However, at the time, photography was still something not even on my radar. I don’t think I’d even met someone who did photography full time, except the school photographers. Because my life at the time was in such disarray, I went from a bad situation (losing my best friends and boyfriend in a short space of time) to a worse one…….to be continued…..
Here are a few of my favourite, most recent sunset images.
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