MY PHOTOGRAPHY JOURNEY

I was always interested in photography but never really did anything with it, at school I wasn’t able to do photography due to clashes with other classes (although my parents probably wouldn’t have helped me get a camera either).

In 2013 I started my NZPGA Golf Professional training which meant I was studying golf, working in golf (sometimes 50-60 hours per week) and I still had to play golf. I wanted an outlet away from golf and after procrastinating for along time about the cost of a camera, lenses etc my dad actually bought me my first SLR (Canon 1100D with kit lenses) for my birthday. I took hundreds of photos trying to learn manual settings, the amount of underexposed shots were ridiculous, but I got better.

I was then convinced by a few of my friends to start a photography page on facebook to show my images and that is what I did. Seeing what I posted then is very cringeworthy but without those images I wouldn’t be where I am now. I now have a great following on facebook (2700ish followers) and a lot of them are really good followers. Other than the stupid algorithm that doesn’t let my posts be seen by many of those followers. What I have had success with on facebook is my calendars that I make each year, my followers vote which images make it into my New Zealand calendar which gives me plenty of interaction with the followers and I learn what they like to see too.

In 2015 I moved back to Wanganui and got more of a following on facebook with more Wanganui posts. I decided I wanted to upgrade my camera, which I did and got a Canon 70D with a good lens, although it was a kit lens. With the process of purchasing that, the saleslady told me about the local camera club (after she realised who I was and had seen my facebook pics). I went and checked it out, I was so nervous even going into the clubrooms because going by myself was totally out of my comfort zone but I did it and met a couple of nice people and I decided to join up on the night and even paid straight away. My first opportunity to enter some of my images to a competition came and the subject being landscape I thought to myself, I got this. After going through my images, narrowing them down I chose 2, got them printed and matted then entered them. Waited the month and went to camera club hoping for a good result after all the effort in choosing these images. They did not do well, they were criticized (as judges do) and only received Merits. After that I decided not to enter more that year until I learnt a bit more and got an idea of what judges liked etc.

In 2017, I still joined the camera club but wasn’t that active when it came to the main meetings as I was busy on that night, however I did join a ‘Special Interest Group’ of the club which was like a Photo Appreciation night once a month where we went to Bev Sinclair’s house. I was nervous about this the first time too, I was early and didn’t want to be the first person to turn up not really knowing who was going to be there and they didn’t really know who I was. This special interest group, generally around 5 to 8 people on each occasion bought a couple of images on a USB stick and we would get to talk about those images, show them what you liked about them and the others showed you how I could improve those images. The importance of this group really had the biggest impact on my images and giving me more confidence in my photography.

I decided after the above that 2018 I was going to enter every camera club competition they had (except AV) and really commit to it. I saw the program early on and decided that every subject I had shots for (Except maybe Portraits but they had an Open category too). The first subject was Urban Jungle and I got one honours, then it was Colour My World and I got an honours. The next 3 competitions didn’t get me much but then it was Landscape (DPI and then Print). I got honours with one image in each one. The rest of the year I picked up a lot of highly commended and honours. I also won the End of Year Champion Print for my grade. The biggest surprise was that I got an honours for a Portrait competition but we will get to that below. At the end of year Prizegiving it was announced that I was no longer going to be in B Grade (as I had more than 5 honours for the year). I finished the year with 8 honours, winning the aggregate for Print and Dpi plus the Champion Print.

Back to the Portrait image I mentioned above, so in 2018 I ended up having a girlfriend which was long overdue but she also had an interest in photography (although didn’t know how to really use her camera) which lead to some trips away. One big trip that I had already organised (17 days down in the South Island), she tagged along and it became our first major photo trip and that’s when she really fell in love with doing photography (and maybe fell in love with me too). She then came to a camera club meeting with me and I talked her into joining (I think I paid) and then she was now entering competitions too. The portrait image I had success with was actually of Alanas son, Ryan. A 4 year old that didn’t mind posing for the camera (depending on his mood). We both went to the PSNZ Central Convention held in Wanganui which was really interesting and again we learnt a lot more about ourselves and our photography strengths and weaknesses. I had one of my images get honours as part of the convention exhibition. Alana went on to win B Grade in 2019 and had a similar year to my 2018 that meant she was joining me in A Grade for 2020.

2019 we took our photography a bit further by entering national competitions. I had some little success with images accepted into the PSNZ National Exhibition and the North Shore Salon. One evening I got up to go to the bathroom but checked my e-mails on the way. The results from the Dunedin Photographic Society were in, I opened them up and much to my surprise I saw I had won the Open category. Trying to get back to sleep after that wasn’t easy but I knew not to wake up Alana. When she did wake up I told her the results were out and waited for her to check. Unfortunately she didn’t get any result but then saw that I had actually won (also to her shock I am sure).

We did our first exhibition in 2019 with Open Studios (Yearly event in Wanganui where artists show off their work), was a lot of wok to get set up and organised for the event but we did it and I had some success, selling a few prints. An ex girlfriend, flew in from Brazil to even come to the exhibition (okay not really, just a coincidence) and she bought one of my images too. She convinced me I should really be showing my images on instagram and seems I had just finally started using my first smartphone (Yes in 2019!!!) I decided to give it a go. Its been slow building up followers but has been great and have got some really likeminded friends from it also.

2019 also was a big year as this was the year I changed brands, I still can’t believe I did it but I changed from Canon to Sony by getting the top of the line mirrorless Sony A7riv and lenses but not kit lenses but top end. Alana also got the same camera and multiple lenses so we can now share lenses which is pretty cool but we don’t really do it often.

We have since done the 2021 Open Studios (2020 was cancelled due to covid) and sold a few more prints and canvases which made me feel like I should probably build a website. Trying to promote my work a bit more and be seen by more people, fingers crossed for more sales too. Be sure to check out my Portfolio tab here and see if there are any images you like.