Hi Anna! Thanks for participating in our Duckfeatures series.
How are you?
Hello there, I’m great thanks!
What got you started in photography?
I was always a creative kid but it was drummed into me that the creative path would not pay the bills so when I grew up I got a ‘real job’. Skip forward through a marriage, 2 wonderful kids and a divorce and I decided I needed to get my creative-self back so I bought a DSLR camera. Not having a clue how to use it, in 2014 I signed up for a one-year pro-photography course at Photography Studies College, Melbourne. I am still there in 2017 and about to complete the last semester of an Advanced Diploma of Photography with a plan to move onto a Bachelor of Arts in Photography in 2018. Needless to say I love it and while it doesn’t pay the bills I am hoping one day that it will!
Your personal work currently features a lot of landscapes, can you tell us a bit about your philosophy and process?
Studying has exposed me to every genre of photography and while I have enjoyed them all, it’s landscape photography to which I always return. I am happiest when I’m immersed in nature. I love to go on road trips, often on the spur of the moment, with or without company, to find new places to photograph. Often the journey to a place yields the best photos. I have taken some of my favourite images by the side of the road after I’ve pulled over having seen something inspiring. My philosophy is just go somewhere and be. That’s when the best things happen.
Who or what are you influences, are there any other photographers that you really admire?
Nature is my biggest inspiration. Nature doesn’t need embellishing. You just need to look at it to see amazing and beautiful things. As I am new to photography I find I am influenced by and really admire more contemporary photographers. I help run a Melbourne based Instagram group (@igersmelbourne) and I am regularly blown away by the photographs our followers produce. We often get together to explore and to collaborate in both large and small groups, helping and inspiring each other.
You recently travelled to the US on a storm chasing trip, what was that like!?
It was life changing! I have had a love of weather since I was little when my father, who was a flight test engineer, taught me all about clouds and how they worked. While Australia has its fair share of extreme weather events, it was always a dream of mine to see the super storms that grace Tornado Alley in spring. Witnessing storms on this level is awe-inspiring. Seeing my first tornado form, hit the ground, grow in size then dissipate as we drove along side is something I will never forget, a goose-bump moment.
What do you find challenging about your work?
I think my biggest challenge is having the confidence to put myself out there, to market myself more, to enter more awards and to perhaps even have a solo exhibition. Right now I am enjoying the feeling of being creative again after not being that way for so long. It’s a lovely, liberating feeling that I hope stays with me from here on.
Where would you like to be with your photography practice in five years’ time? What would be a dream project?
In five years’ time I would like to have at least one solo exhibition under my belt and be selling the odd print or doing some commission work. My dream project would be to set up a local gallery-café/pub where people can come to see and buy local art, have a chat and partake in some drink and food. That’s when I hope photography is paying the bills!
Thanks for chatting to us!
And thank you for having me!
Connect with Anna here:
Instagram: @fox_cottage
Facebook: www.facebook.com/foxcottagephotography
Twitter: @fox_cottage
Website: www.foxcottage.com.au
Email: anna@foxcottage.com.au