Hope Images - the person behind the camera
Hi,
This is my first ever blog post....scary but also kind of refreshing - in the way that you feel when you jump into a freezing cold pool. It's scary and you decide a hundred times that you are not doing that, no way, no how, it is just not happening......and then after a few minutes of standing on the side of the pool, you think to yourself, oh who cares, I am going to do it and then you jump and even though it is a matter of seconds, it is terrifying and the shock of the water once you land takes your breath away.......but then your body adjusts and suddenly it is like being at home, refreshing and relaxing. You wonder why you ever stood on the sideline for so long and what exactly you were scared might happen if you jumped.
So.....I will start by introducing myself. My name is Lorrene McClymont, I am married with two children and we live in the beautiful Barossa Valley in South Australia.
I am currently working on my photography business to gain experience and build up my clients. I am also involved with Young Living Essential Oils which keeps me busy.
I have been interested in photography for as long as I can remember. I love the feeling of taking a shot that I am proud of. I enjoy working towards a shot and problem solving all of the little details and then being able to pull it all together for the end result. I started my photography journey with a small point and shoot kodak film camera. It was quite a good little camera for the time and I took some great shots on it. My first DSLR was a Pentax that I bought second hand from ebay. I loved that camera and it was just what I needed for a while. I started to think about getting into photography more seriously, so I saved up and bought myself a Nikon D7000.
Last year, I decided to go part time at my work place and I studied my Diploma in Photographic Imaging at Tafe. I felt at home from day 1. It was like I had found my place. It was incredibly challenging on so many levels. I left a job that I was secure in and good at, to take on study.....something I hadn't actually done since I left school in 1993. My job paid relatively well, so the drop to part time had a significant impact. My family were incredibly supportive and allowed me to follow my dream.
Add to that the challenges of looking at photography in a completely different way, of studying and handing assignments in and meeting deadlines, of my own perfectionism, which at times leads to procrastination, too scared to fail so hey let's just not do it at all, until.....PANIC it's due tomorrow. I passed my Diploma with a distinction for my final folio and I still look back on last year with incredible pride in myself for getting through and thankfulness to friends, family and God for keeping me going when I wanted to throw the camera in the toilet.
At Tafe we were able to borrow lots of different equipment, they had EVERYTHING......well not everything but close enough to. It has been a challenge this year to come back to the real world and try to shoot with what I have or to have to hire a lens for a specific job. I fell in love with the Nikon D3 at TAFE, although it is an older model camera, it was my first full frame. I set my mind on the fact that I was going to save up for a D750 and that would do me nicely. Towards the end of TAFE, we completed a student survey for Canon. The grand prize was a Canon 5D mk III full frame camera. I completed my survey and then forgot about it completely until I got a phone call saying that I had won the camera. I am now a Canon shooter and loving it. I have shot with both Nikon and Canon and loved both for different reasons.
I am currently working in all different genres of photography. I am shooting events and special occasions, completing commercial shoots and still shooting landscapes in my spare time. One of my favourite things to do is to get up before the sunrise and drive around the Barossa looking for inspiration in the mundane. I always manage to find an amazing subject to shoot. Some of my best selling images have been shot at that time of day.
My business is called Hope Images. Hope has always been something incredibly special to me, I have been through some pretty dark times and sometimes that little flicker of hope in the bottom of my soul was the thing that kept me going. I called the business Hope Images, because it takes something small to inspire hope, one image, one photoshoot, one gift card at the right time. I want to be able to inspire people, make them smile and realise that there is always hope.
There you have it, my first blog post. Give me a call or shoot me an email if you are looking for a photographer for anything. Feel free to browse the portfolio on my website. Gallery shots are available for sale through the website. If you are looking for unique cards or calendars, anything in the Animal or South Australia gallery is available, PM or email me for more information. Keep an eye out for next weeks blog post.....part one of 10 things I have learnt about photography.