Where do you get your inspiration from? For me, it is any number of weird and wonderful places - something that has come up in discussion, something I have been 'studying', something that intrigues me. The little godwits that migrate from Alaska each year, ending up in beaches across NZ (even going as far south as the SubAntarctic Islands) are a good example. I'm not immune to writer / artist / photography block though and have developed a few strategies to get me through.

When I started writing these blog pieces about my journey in photography and art I didn’t think that I would share personal information. However, it turns out that I can’t separate self from artist as the thought that goes into my work is personal and, for photography, my camera is an extension of myself and doesn’t operate in isolation from me. A few years back my old school decided they wanted to feature me in their end-of-year magazine. A bit of background; I didn’t have

Many, many years ago when I was lecturing in Nursing I read a paper, the concepts of which have stuck with me. The author wrote about her feelings of fraud or impostorship, she described standing in the wings listening to someone else introduce her and as her long list of accolades were read out thought “oh, that’s not me, they’ll see through me”. (I may be paraphrasing, the article was read about 25 years ago!). If anyone is interested in the original nursing article you

I enjoy the work of a number of incredible photographers and, it may be controversial, but I have a thought about the 'norm' of sticking with one genre. Most known photographers are known for the genre that they shoot and there are obvious advantages to that - expertise takes 10,000 hours (according to Malcolm Gladwell) so if you want to be an expert in more than one area then that's, well, a lifetime before you would be 'good enough'. It could be the way that my brain is wir

Photographs are interesting things - at their best they remind us of things we have loved, they journal events and capture important moments, they challenge us to view the world a little differently. At their worst they foster competitiveness, insecurity and fears. By virtue of our smartphones we have all become photographers, all of the time. It is human nature to like to be liked or valued and so, as a natural extension of our photo taking, we share images for entertainm

I'm about to embark on a week-long photography retreat, fair to say, I'm a bit excited. Hanging out with fellow photographers, talking, planning, shooting. Awesome stuff. However, the preparation for the week has made me reflect on why I value being with other photographers so much. The answer is a bit simple - there's safety in numbers. Invariably, when I am out (by myself) taking photos some helpful soul will feel the need to say things like "oh, you are taking photos"

I follow an American photographer, #JoelGrimes, who has a very distinctive style (and also presents incredibly personable videos). Watching one of his videos on how you price photography intrigued me. Obviously, the prices that photographers can charge in the US is considerably different to what a New Zealand buyer would pay (although the skill required to take an exceptional photograph does not differ depending upon where you live). The question really is - how do we 'val