A love of the lens

By Emma Sun
The Pakenham resident maintained her passion for photography and became serious about it about four years ago when she and husband Michael attended a seminar run by Pakenham Camera Club president Mark Jones at LLINC.
“Michael and I did that together because it was something we were both interested in,” she said.
“Mark was encouraging and really patient and a lot of the things I really wanted to learn that I found too technical, he went over really carefully.
“It’s amazing what you can learn just in that course. We found out that there was a camera club and we started going to the club.”
She said she and Michael constantly worked together and proved to be a great pairing.
“My husband and I do a lot of landscapes together and we’d go away and photograph different places, such as the Whitsundays, Phillip Island and the Blue Mountains.”
They became such an effective team that they were entering and winning competitions hosted by the Pakenham Camera Club in no time.
“I try to enter every single one and it’s good because the judges say things that help you learn. It might be a little bit painful but you will always try to do it the right way and you can learn a lot from watching others’ photos get critiqued too,” Fiona said.
“We won the venture, where you go around and take photos of things on a list and have it judged by the whole club. Michael won the portraiture competition too.”
The shutterbug admitted that she particularly loved taking photos of babies, weddings and landscapes.
“I love weddings because I enjoy seeing the whole day from the bride and groom’s perspective,” Fiona said.
“I love the detail people do to make it special and also the fact they have the photos to look back on. Photos make you remember the special day in a lot more detail.”
She said she would definitely continue to take photographs and keep up with her artistic photography, having been influenced at a young age.
“My grandfather was a photographer and I was always interested in what he’d done,” she said.
“He passed away when I was about 12 and some of his photos are still on my parents’ wall. I think that’s where the early interest came from. I think I’ll probably do it until I die.”