Guest Post: Nicola of N.East Photography

I'm lucky enough where I live and work to be surrounded by strong, beautiful and talented young women. I thought I would ask a few of them to guest post on this blog, so that you can get to know them too! I'm kicking off the series with my sweet friend Nicola, who is a photographer from N.East Photography. You can check out her work on Facebook and her blog!

Hi, my name is Nicola! I’m nineteen. Most the time you’ll find me with a camera in my hand. I’m addicted to the beauty of the world around me, both capturing it and exploring it. I’m a strong believer in dreaming, optimism and striving to make the world (or at least make it look) like a better place.

I live by the bay in little ol’ Brisbane. Although, the little wandering spirit in me tells me I won’t be staying put for too long.

I am constantly being inspired by new sources. Of course, there are a few photographers in particular who make me keep doing what I do, the ones who capture the world - so perfectly imperfect. But over and above that (and I know it’s terribly cliché), but the sheer beauty of the world we live in has the strongest and most undeniable source of inspiration for any photographer.

It is hard to say the exact moment I made the transition from an amateur with a point-and-shoot camera to “photographer”. I was fifteen when I owned my first DSLR. You know you are the real deal when you have an album on Myspace called “My Photography”, containing nothing but photos of flowers and water droplets on leaves. From there, I guess things progressed, and now I find myself actually earning an income from my most loved hobby!

I adore shooting people I know. There is something extremely rewarding about finding someone with natural beauty and no modelling experience, placing them in front of the camera and snapping away until they find comfort in front of the camera. You find out a lot about a person when they are in front of the camera. You see everything- their vulnerabilities, their flaws, but most importantly, you see that every single individual possess a unique, complex beauty. I enjoy uncovering that beauty.

I actually had one of the scariest and most memorable stories of my life occur when I was on a shoot. Being a photographer, we occasionally go to great lengths to get the photo we want, which sometimes means putting ourselves in situations that would normally be wise to avoid. In this instance, it was spring time, and I thought it would be a dandy idea to get one of my friend’s to dress up like a princess and photograph her frolicking in grassy bushland opposite my house. I didn’t seem to think through the fact it was indeed snake season, and half an hour in to shooting, I saw a slippery brown creature slither away from my leg. It was only a matter of time before I looked down and realise I had fang marks on my ankle, and I had indeed been bitten by a snake. There was a lot of screaming and running involved before I was rushed to hospital and spent the next twelve hours thinking my life was going to end! I was lucky enough to survive, as that generous snake decided not to inject its venom when it has bit me. Still, craziest shoot of my life! But hey, I got a good shot in the end, so it was worth it… right?

I think in this day and age the biggest challenge is establishing yourself to be different from every other photographer out there. These days, everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, has a fancy camera. I know, because I work as a camera salesperson! This means there is a lot more to compete with, and people start to value professional photographers less and less as they seem to think picture-taking is as easy as buying an entry-level DSLR (or in some cases an iPhone) and shooting away! The challenge is getting people to really value and love your work, sometimes enough to pay you for it. I think that will be a challenge that will never cease. In the end I do photography because it is what I love, so even if people don’t always see the value in it, I will happily keep doing it for myself!

 

Being a photographer is literally the easiest thing in the world when you are shooting what you love. There is nothing more rewarding then getting home after photographing a dreamy sunset or a picture-perfect portrait session and seeing the fruits of your labour on your computer screen. It gives me this unexplainable buzz.

Three words to describe me? Young, adventurous, dreamer.