"So very special. Thank you for capturing their connection so beautifully and being so incredibly calming and encouraging"
Amy Hemmings-Batt
My first camera (or should I say loved toy) was a very old and tattered 1938 Kodak Eastman: Popular Brownie 620 pin hole camera. I was four years old.
I was fascinated by what it was, and determined to get it to do something… sadly I have never got it to work, but it has moved house with me everywhere I go.
Then it was the 90’s and for me the decade of disposable cameras! And I got through loads. Seeing if each one would give me that illusive extra frame, just one more picture.
I was lucky enough in high school that my first proper camera was an SLR. A friend of my parents, after hearing about how creative and obsessed with photography I was, gave me his old professional camera, a Konica Minolta Maxxum 300si 35mm SLR Film Camera.
This was amazing and saw me through school, college and uni!
My curiosity for the process of photography and imagery moulded my choice of A –levels. After taking Art for GCSE, I went on to study Art, Art history and Photography. I have been at my most creative when learning the process of developing film and seeing an image slowly appear on paper.
However in 2004, not wanting to narrow my options, and using the logical part of my head, I studied Fine Art to BA hons at the University of Creative Arts, as this could include but not be limited to painting.
Photographs appeared in everything however, whether it was painting from them or on them, my work had to include them. Even sparking an entire semester's project entitled “One Moment”, where I orchestrated friends, family, colleagues and connections from the early stages of social media – in fact everyone I could reach – to take a photo in the same one hour window.
I found this insight into our world from that one hour amazing – the “what were you doing when…?” idea. Odd to think what a challenge it was in 2004, and how easy it is now with everyone having a camera phone and social media of multiple kinds.
My kit bag has grown to multiple cameras, lenses, supporting equipment, tripods, flashes, Adobe editing suites, computers etc.
Since 2023 I have refined my Photography, after many fabulous years of weddings and portraits, I narrowed my field of focus to artistic portraiture. My passion is Artistic Pet and Equine portraits. People and families are of course included, but the pets are the star of the show. I have been recognised with awards, such as Image of the month Bronze awards, and the Founder's Cup Finalist in 2025, by the Guild of Photographers.
My favourite photographic quote:
A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away.
- Eudora Welty