My Photographic Journey

Today I felt nostalgic as I looked through my 1TB hard drive and relived all the photographs I had taken and the memories that went with them. It has been over 3 years since I picked up my first camera and started taking photography seriously, I had owned a camera since I was 10 but it wasn't until the beginning of 2010 that it became an interest and an art form in my eyes.

Unfortunately the photos taken during that first part of 2010 were rather horrendous and I got frustrated because I couldn't express my feelings through my photographs. In May 2010 I met a boy named David through Facebook but who had caught my school bus the previous year. After talking to him and seeing his own photographs I decided that I wanted to be as good as he was, I created a Flickr account that month and we started discussing photography, film, music and everything else we could think of. Meeting him marked a turning point and I learnt how to use GIMP properly and to understand the basic technicalities of photography. However wasn't until January 2011 that we shot together, it was a rainy day so we sought refuge in the forest with David's new 50mm 1.8 lens. It was my first time shooting with a DSLR and I couldn't figure out how to focus it or control the settings. Even so I fell in love with the camera and the photographs I took all the same. It was my first time modelling and photographing someone other than my little sister but it gave me the confidence to start shooting my other friends and my boyfriend at the time.

Somewhere along the way, about June/July of 2011 my images started to get darker and were often processed in black & white as a reflection of my mental state at the time. I started modelling for David's NCEA level 2 photography board and thus had the opportunity to shoot with him (and his camera) quite a lot. I had started coming up with photographic concepts and discussing these with David helped to clear my mind and finally being able to express these emotions in photographic form was incredible.

During December 2011/January 2012 I began to take photographs of strangers both in New Zealand and England, anyone who looked interesting to me had their photo taken. I finally was the proud owner of a Canon 1100D but that pride was short lived as my camera was dropped in a river in February.

 The rest of the year's photographs consisted of family snapshots and shoots with David. No idea was too crazy for us and after a while it didn't matter who actually took the photo at the time, 

they were 'our photographs'. We met up and photographed with a long time inspiration of mine - Tina Sun and for the first time shot with a model, an experience that taught me so much.

In September, David and I photographed our second wedding together and we finished shooting for his NCEA level 3 photography board. Later on we shot our first editorial style shoot and helped Tina with an editorial of her own. We also got the chance to meet up with Sunny Lei, a photographer from Sydney who was in Auckland on holiday. Our last shoot together was in January where I modelled topless for the first time in my life, there is controversy surrounding it but that is what makes it interesting.

Now it is almost September and I am able to look back and see how far I have come since I was 14. I have another DSLR now and it goes nearly everywhere with me. This year I have been published for the first time and now feel like I can express my feelings through photographs. Working with models and make up artists is easy for me now and I hope to work more with the fashion industry and NZ designers. I have met a lot of incredible people from all around the world who share my passion and commitment. Some days I wish I could never see a camera again and others I wonder where I would be without it. My dream is work in photojournalism and to have my own exhibition one day but at the present I am happy with taking photos.