My favourite childhood memories are of summers spent running wild and free barefoot in the sand. I loved to dance (I still do!). After finishing school, I travelled the world. I like to think that this early love of nature, movement and beautiful places inspires my work.
My favourite thing to do is photograph people who believe they are not photogenic, who have low self-esteem when it comes to body image and who struggle with a positive sense of self. I can see the healing that comes from having a photo session where YOU are the subject – the part it can play in helping you on your journey of self-acceptance.
When you get to see yourself made into a work of art it can totally transform how you view yourself. Seeing yourself through someone else’s eyes will help to hush the inner critic, the voice that is always telling us we are not good enough. Suddenly you can see – actually I AM beautiful, my body IS a work of art and I AM WORTHY.
Worthy of love, worthy of respect, both from others but more importantly, from myself.
I have a particular interest in the lived experience of the transition to motherhood, the positive body image movement and the use of therapeutic photography.
My own journey as a mother informs my work. It was a transition that took me by surprise. I know what it is to love a child and I know what it is to have days so dark you want to hide, even from yourself. I know what it is to not recognise your body, to feel completely out of touch with it. And how negatively this affects your sense of self.
Sometimes we can’t see the beauty in the life we are living. But as we grow older there will come a time when we can look back with fondness and even compassion for our younger selves.
My aim is to capture the beautiful, authentic you and to help you feel comfortable with the process. I love what I do because not only do I get to have my dream job, I also get to look after the people who come in front of my camera.
I want to honour the ‘ordinary’ and to show just how extraordinary it actually is.
In addition to all the training Bronwyn and I have done together, in 2018 I travelled to Tucson, Arizona to train with body positive photographer Jade Beall . I have also studied Therapeutic Photography with Neil Gibson of Robert Gordon University . In February 2023 I travelled to London to learn from the amazing headshot photographer Ivan Weiss.
Our journey into this business began together with a simple night class – little did we know where it would lead!
From that moment we haven’t stopped learning. In January 2018, we travelled to Nashville, USA to train with world renowned Family and Newborn photographer Julia Kelleher.
In 2020 we both earned our licentiateship as professional photographers with the IPPVA. This was a proud moment for us!
In 2023, Bronwyn travelled to Santorini to join photographers from all around the world to learn in-person from the incredibly talented Stormy Solis on a 5-day workshop.
We continue to learn and train with many renowned photographers including Stormy Solis, Twig & Olive, Elena S Blair, The Milky Way, Sandra Coan, Jackie Jean Photography, Little White Photography and Ivan Weiss to name but a few.
Our learning will never end as we strive to perfect our craft and make sure our clients get the very best!
SO this is us many many moons ago! Bronwyn is the dainty one holding a nice dancers pose there at the back and Sharon is the messer being strangled. Little did we know, way back then, how our lives would come together again! We both returned to this beach hideaway as adults with our own kids and discovered a wonderful friendship with a shared passion for photography (and gin but we won’t go into that here..…) Summer after summer we hid ourselves away and lived the simple life with days on the beach and long chats into the night where we would sort out the world. Renewed and refreshed after a summer of sand, sea and simple living we’d return home with new ideas for the year ahead. Usually these were kinda simple, like ‘5-days of lunch box fillers’ (and yes we know that sounds REALLY boring but we also know there are more than a few of you out there who’d like to see that list….). BUT one year we came home with a different idea and Hippy & Bloom Photography was born.
