Ashley

My photography in the earlier stages had essentially been composed of landscape, architecture and macro photography. During one of my photography exhibitions, my instructor had laughed at me..... in a good way.

The first official class that I had signed up for went to Tofino to play around on the beaches. We would hike out to the sites at the wee hours of the morning (when I say wee... I mean leaving the house at 3am for those early morning sunrises). All the students would search out their prime locations and set up their tripods while I would wonder the beaches looking at what it had to offer. When it came to our evening critique sessions there would be all these exceptional shots of long exposures and perfect compositions.... and I would have a photo of wood grain. At first I did not think that I was getting the grasp of the situation as my shots did not look anything like what everyone else was photographing.... then again, I was shooting with a fixed lens camera. But it wasn't that I wasn't getting it..... I just had a different style. As Marc said, "when everyone is photographing this wonderful seascape, you are photographing rocks and logs.... but there is nothing wrong with that, you are just presenting us with an alternative view on the landscape." Shortly thereafter, it was interesting to watch the other students veering away from the beautiful landscape, and seeing what else the area had to offer.... and boy, there were some great shots that came out of that weekend getaway!

I have since invested in some exceptional equipment. My portfolio has expanded, though I still keep my eye out for those unique photographing opportunities.

With the expansion of my portfolio came an amazing opportunity that was presented to me when we lived in Victoria. A young family had just moved into the basement suite of the house that we were residing in. I had been having some identity crisis at the time..... and had been told that if I was going to be a photographer, I needed to act like one. So when John came upstairs to introduce himself I introduced myself as a 'photographer'. His face just lit up and he asked if I did headshots. At the time, I was working with non-human muses.... and was rather interested in trying something new. As it turned out, he had been teaching at about five of the acting schools in Victoria. His students needed to build their portfolios and I felt that I needed to challenge myself and expand my abilities. It worked out great. I decided on a student price which worked for the students... and went to work on printing off some business cards. But boy was I a little bit surprised when I got my first phone call for a photo shoot... which happened to come the next day.

Ashley was this absolutely wonderful girl. She had been taking some of John's classes and was willing to be my first client. The final result was fantastic. Thank you Ashley, you allowed me to practice my skills... I hope that you are still performing your art.

John opened the door for me to come out of the closet with my art. He sent many more students through my doors........... some of which I will introduce you to at some point! Thank you John for believing in me enough to work with your students! I have since been honoured to photograph children, families, weddings, and even done some more fine art pieces.