AmyQ Blog » Rambling and Photography from AmyQ

We encounter so many people in the course of our lives.  They drift in and out and sometimes back in again.  There are varying degrees of connection with each soul we are blessed to call ‘friend’.  One of the most beautiful experiences a friendship can bring is when you ‘see’ each other.  There’s a deep knowing that you are loved and seen and heard.  You know that you can be lovely and ugly, and they accept both as being part of you.  And they love you either way.  They feel like home.

This is Kelly Trow.  She lives in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, with her 3 boys and her husband.  She is an amazing photographer and has a soul that will take your breath.  She’s an angel.  oxox, AmyQ

• Tell me about the moment/realization that photography was a profession you wanted to explore.

I had been playing with a camera since I was a kid, and I had never ever thought of photography as a profession, let alone one that I could pursue.  But one day about 5 years ago I all of a sudden had a thought to ask a friend at the time if I could photograph her new baby.  I hadn’t been looking at newborn photography beforehand, it was just like this little niggling thought that came to me, then grew louder while I wrestled with it.  What if she said no?  What if she said yes?  What if the photos were crap?  I think I tried to tell myself not to bother asking but the desire was just so overwhelming that I did it.  I asked her, she said yes, and I photographed her new baby.  I’m not ashamed to say that I had NO idea what I was doing, and we thought the photos were great at the time but I’m sure they weren’t.  But, I still remember the feeling that occurred the moment that I overcame my fear and asked to take those photos.  I had this feeling that I had just conquered something and if I had the courage to continue along this path then life was going to be interesting.  And it absolutely has, my life is so so much richer because of it.

• What camera did you learn with?

Well, I confess that although I had film cameras when I was younger, they were nothing special and I never learnt anything technical on them.  I actually remember having to make a pinhole camera in primary school but mine never worked!  So it wasn’t until I bought my first digital slr a canon 400D that I learnt the technical aspects of photography.

• What did you do/plan to do before deciding on photography?

When I was a teen I planned to work in childcare.  Then I did work experience for a week in a classroom and I vowed never to do that again.  So when I finished school I worked in an office whilst studying accounting.  I never finished my accounting course though, as I moved from the city into the country and got a job in an office and worked my way up with the BP distributor.  Over the years I became an all-rounder in the office and second in charge, but I became so so bored.  Looking back, I now know why.  I had no challenges anymore, my creativity was null and void!

• Is there a post processing trend that you thought looked phenom, but now makes you cringe?  Feel free to share a gem from that.

Oh probably!!  I admit to never liking selective colouring, but I was possibly a bit of a fan of the white vignetting!  i think I was a fan of oversaturation at one point, you know, super bright pinks and yellows.  I promise to never go there again.

• A session or series you’ve felt most proud of?  You’re welcome to share those.

One session in particular that stands out for me was one I did for my friends a couple of years back.  One of my good friends had just passed away and left 2 daughters aged 8 and 10 at the time.  They came and stayed with me about 3 months after she passed, and on one day I took them out for a little session of the two of them together, as a gift to their father and to look back on themselves during such a hard time.  They got to let loose and be themselves and have some fun without any stresses, as well as work on their sister bond which was now so crucial – in my eyes.  I got some gorgeous images of the two of them.

• If there were no limitations, what would you pursue photographically?  What do you dream of shooting before you die?

Oh lordy, how far will my imagination stretch?  You know, when I started out I didn’t think I would want to shoot landscapes as they were so boring to me.  People were much more interesting!  I think you call that ignorance.  I would absolutely love to travel far and wide and just shoot whatever my heart sees, whether it’s people or buildings or trees or a tiny lone ant in the middle of a big plain desert.  So at the moment, if I had no family to ground me, then I would love to be travelling from country to country, just documenting life of all kinds.

• 10 years from now- where would you like to be?  Doing what?

You know, I often wonder whether I’ll still be using a camera to earn a living in 10 years time.  In a perfect world, I think I would be happy to only be doing it half the time.  The other half, I want to be making a difference in some other creative way.  Whether that is writing, or making goats cheese from my goat (that I milk every morning) in our very extremely large, grassy backyard, where we also have chickens to lay eggs and a big veggie patch.  By the way, none of that is true at the moment, but I’m hoping another 10 years will see it to be true!

• Your favorite lens/camera combo.

Well. At the moment I live with my canon 5d mkii and my 50mm 1.2.  However I have my eye on the new canon 1dx out very soon.  I have also started a new relationship with film, and the love of my life in that department is my Contax 645 with the 80mm f2.  It’s extremely fun.  I’m still exploring film though and have a lot to learn.  I use it for my personal work at the moment but maybe with some more confidence I can start incorporating it into client work.

• Camera/lens combo you’d like to have or play with.

I’m actually quite happy with what I have at the moment.  More exploration with film is on the cards and I’ve also recently acquired a Mamiya rz67 pro ii.

• Who/what lights your fire?  Songs, artist, movie, subject, feelings….

Wow.  I love questions like these because just making you think of these things makes you light up.  I love artists who pour their everything into their craft, and know that being different is what is going to set them apart from mediocre.  I love watching someone perform with their heart and soul, whether it’s someone as big as Michael Jackson – of whom I was lucky enough to see in concert some 15 or so years ago! – or a street performer.  We don’t have any street performers where I live but I do recall being in Santa Monica a year ago and seeing one of their street performers in the main shopping area one night.  Not only did she have an awesome singing talent but I also saw a little scene fold out in front of me that sticks in my mind.  There was a homeless man sitting on a bench and he was listening to her too, his body moving with the music.  Then another guy came and sat on the other end of the bench to listen too.  Soon after another guy carrying a box of pizza walked over and sat on the bench between them and offered the pizza to them both.  I watched them chatting for a minute before the music seemed to take over them all and all three of them were dancing and clapping to the music, until it finished which by then they were laughing and having a great time.

I was so mesmerized by this scene the entire time.  Three unlikely strangers brought together by one person’s musical passion, even if just for a short time.  I don’t know whether that little exchange made an impact on their life at all, but it certainly made an impact on mine.  That’s the sort of thing that light’s my fire…being aware of the little miracles around me.

• When is the last time you have had personal prints done?

Well, we did have a family portrait session 2 years ago, and I do have those prints in a beautiful album and I have 4 extremely large canvases on our entrance walls…but that was 2 years ago and I haven’t printed anything since.  Shame on me.  I do however, plan to put my current January Photo A Day photos into an album.  This is a little personal project I do every year (along with a  bunch of colleagues) to document my children every day for a month.  I also plan to do an inspiration wall in my office starting with my instagram photos.  I need to stop planning and start doing!

• How often do you shoot for fun?  Have you noticed a theme/consistency in what you shoot for enjoyment?

I try and make a point of doing a shoot just for me every few months.  But I never plan it and it just happens to be whatever I feel like shooting at the time.  Last year I had 2 high school students come to me for work experience at different times throughout the year.  With both of these I spent a day doing a shoot just for them.  As all of my clients are either babies or young children, having teens to play with was so much fun!  I have also spent time either walking through the back streets of my town, or walking through a bush just taking photos of whatever catches my eye.  Shooting without pressure is a great way to keep the creativity flowing and it’s so nice to be able to have my own agenda.  Or have no agenda.  That’s even better.

• How do you handle friends/family requests for your services?

I find it hard saying no.  or at least, saying no politely.   I actually don’t get friends asking for freebies.  Maybe I just have awesome friends.

• If you could only make two ps adjustments/actions. what would they be?

1. remove snot.  2.  Remove flies.

If you want a serious answer, lol, if I could only make 2 adjustments it would be contrast and burn.

• What is your favorite type of paid session/assignment?

Newborns.  And just newborns, adding toddler siblings is hard!  Newborns are definitely my favourite.  At the moment.  I do like to change it up every now and then

• Was there someone from childhood, whom you credit for instilling your love of photography or someone who believed in your ability to do this as a profession?

my parents for buying me my camera when I was a kid, and paying for film.  And my sister for being my muse when we were children.  And a handful of my sister’s friends, who stood in her place when she’d had enough of me nagging her to pose some more.

• Are there any educational experiences/workshops that stand out as having helped you grow?

Need you ask?  Jesh’s workshops have hands down been the ones for me that have helped me grow immensely.  The growth has been hugely prominent in my life in general, in my relationships, in my photography, and in my business.

• Are there any particular things you like to have when you sit down to edit?

Water and silence.

• Have you gotten more or less comfortable having your own photo taken?

No less comfortable.  I hate it.  I want to be comfortable with it though.  I think it’s my issue with body image.  I’m working on it.  I’ve paid a deposit to have some portraits taken with a beautiful photographer in Perth, so it’s on the list of things to conquer.

• Would you rather shoot:

• Burt Renolyd’s mustache or Chuck Norris’s?

Chuck Norris.  You couldn’t get me remotely close to Burt Reynolds.

• A macro shot of your toes or a full body shot wearing a half shirt and spandex?

I would have to choose toes.  Not that I have a toe fetish. Because I don’t.  but I like them more than half shirts & spandex!

• A UFO or Sasquatch?

I don’t know what a Sasquatch is.  Let me google.  Oh Bigfoot, ok I get it.  Um..i don’t know, how about I aim to capture a Sasquatch being beamed up into a UFO?

-You’re wearing a t-shirt with one word that sums up your journey thus far.  What does it

say?

Revelational.

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