The simple answer is nature!
Witnessing the gentle change in seasons, inevitable life cycles, the tiny, fascinating details of a skeletal leaf & those huge seascapes & skies, which make you very rooted in where you are, is my constant inspiration.
I've been regularly asked on social media which camera I use, so if you want the tech answer, its a Cannon EOS R. It was a reconditioned model from a local camera shop & is also where I bought the EF 100mm Macro IS USM.
I took to photography quite late, with my husband buying me a camera for a birthday, in my late 40s. After a year or so, I discovered I'd like a little more control over certain settings, which is why I graduated to the camera I use today.
Did you take photography classes?
No, however I gained much from from using a workbook, which talked through some of the technical aspects of becoming friends with my SLR.
It's by Emma Davies, a photographer & photography instructor. The book is called 'A Year With My Camera.' Check out Emma's site.
My main advice for taking nature photos is you need to get out there! Being under an umbrella on a rainy day in our paddock, using a macro lens to capture the grey, diamond light on some wild grasses is now a happy memory & one where the colours & image compositions will at some point make their way onto a print or a texture on a ring.
Watching Master of Photography on Sky Arts also inspired me & the main advice I took was to make considered choices. You 'make a photo', rather than simply 'take a photo,' became a new mantra.
I'm also an advocate of not always having a camera with you. Glimpsing a fox cub, inadvertently running up the path towards us is a beautiful memory I can have on 'replay,' which may not have felt the same if I was trying to frame her!
It sometimes important simply 'to look' & 'be', don't you think?
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