Born, raised and schooled in Windhoek, Namibia, I have always had somewhat of an artistic nature, combined with an intense love for animals. I studied and worked as a fashion designer in Cape Town for a few years, eventually moving back to Windhoek, where I started working as a secretary. In the long run this proved to be pretty stifling and boring for my artistic soul and thus I started to illustrate school- and children’s books from home after the birth of my daughter, as well as designing postage stamps for Namibia and other SADC countries.
In 2010, whilst on holiday in Australia, we bought our first DSLR – a Nikon d5000. This set me on a new path – that of photography!
As a child I remember spending many hours in my uncle’s darkroom; enticed by the smell of the chemicals, the sheets of photographic paper bathing in their trays of chemical solutions, the red light and the sense of excitement and wonder as the images were slowly developing and being hung out to dry on a line… The first camera I held in my hand was my Dad’s Minolta, which I was allowed to use, and I did – frequently!
It was thus just a natural extension of my artistic career, coupled with my love for nature and animals – combined with those early childhood memories and exposure to photography, that I have finally come full circle!
Yup, I’m a Nikon gal:
Bodies Lenses
d800 14-24 f/2.8
d850 24-70 f/2.8
d750 70-200 f/2.8 VR
300 f/2.8 VR
200-400 f/4 VR
I prefer to shoot handheld, especially for Avian photography – it allows for greater flexibility and in vehicles prefer the use of Bean Bags for stability.
I do all my editing in Adobe Lightroom. It has a great cataloging system and is very user friendly. I strive to keep everything as natural as possible and usually do my conversions into black and white with Silver Efex Pro from the Nik Collection Plugin.