My first blog post
My first blog post! This is something I have thought about doing for a long time but have always put off due to ‘time poor’ and thinking I had nothing of worth to write about.
I planned to write a post about all my thoughts and feelings relating to Photography. However, I think I will save that for later. Trying to compress all that is in my head, and all that I feel, into a few hundred words is so hard.
Instead, I will start with a little bit about me and my journey.
I am Tess. I am a coffee addict who is drawn to the water. The beach, river systems or the open ocean are where I feel most at peace. I am obsessed with the moon and the night sky. Whilst I usually don’t like to generalise, I am very much your typical Pisces. I'm a dreamer, an empath and I tend to wear rose-coloured glasses in most situations.
I grew up in inner-city Perth. After graduating from high school and working a bunch of different jobs in cafes, bakeries and insurance, I found myself living in Bunbury (Eaton to be exact). The year I lived down south was a massive eye opener. I wasn’t happy! So, I took a huge leap and enrolled in University as a ‘mature age’ student at the ripe old age of 21 and moved back to Perth.
Four years later I graduated with a double degree in a Bachelor of Education in Primary Teaching and a Bachelor of Arts in Indigenous Studies. I loved every minute at Uni. I loved the learning, the continued growth and the people. I'm still drawn to do further tertiary study and, hopefully, will be able to make time for it in the not-too-distant future. However, this doesn’t mean I'm not currently engaged in learning and investing in professional development. I will tell you more about this in my next blog post.
After graduating, we made the decision to move to the Pilbara. For the first few years we lived in Dampier before moving to Karratha. I was fortunate to score a teaching position at a Karratha-based school and have been part of that school community for 11 years now.
It was here in the Pilbara that I fell in love with photography. I had always been the person taking photos and carrying a camera around. However, the rawness and wide-open spaces of the Pilbara landscape moved me. I started seeing 'light' in different ways. I began to pay attention to the way the sun moved, and how it touched the rocks, the trees, the shrubs and grasses. I noticed how vibrant the colours were in the middle of the day, and that the salt was at its whitest when the sun was at its highest. The sweeping sky allowed the colours to stretch from those warm orange tones right across to the purple and pink hues at sunset. Don't get me started on the summer storms ... these absolutely captivated me.
I could go on and on about the Pilbara landscape and how magical it is. This part of country is truly incredible. I feel it becomes part of your soul – if you allow it to.
I have lived in Karratha since 2010. I am a solo Mum to two amazing children. I work a couple of days teaching and run my photography business full-time.
In front of a classroom and behind the lens are two places I am in my element. I am so fortunate to have two professions I love and, in many ways, complement each other. My teaching skills and strategies help me to connect with, guide and encourage children to listen and participate with enthusiasm and joy in photo sessions. Being a mother, I also understand the stress some parents feel in the lead up to, and during, a photo shoot. I will be writing a blog post about all this, and the strategies and techniques I use during sessions, so stay tuned for that one.
I’ll sign off here, but if you have any questions or comments let me know. And if you would like to connect more with me, before deciding if you’d like me to capture your family, head to my ‘Contact Me’ page and send me a message. We can catch up over the phone or over a coffee.
