Camera equipment has always been a male thing. You know, cameras just have soooo many buttons that do not appeal to females. However, trends are changing and photography is no longer a completely male dominated industry. That's why it was so exciting to meet fellow female photographers who have a passion for all things visual and of course, their equipment. This meet up was held at Chilli's, Midvalley about 2 weeks ago, organized by Anna-Rina. From left to right... Fiona of Fifoto, Olivia Oon, ME, Sharon Koo from Wedding Story and Anna-Rina. It was quite fun to just chat and share tips and struggles about working in this industry. I am so glad that we're female, usually conversations with male photographers revolve around what is the current lens that you own, or how sharp this other lens is, where to purchase the cheapest studio equipment etc. But with these girls, we shared about stories we encountered while shooting, meeting horror clients, finding weird locations to shoot, even debating on how much is too low a rate to charge clients! I am glad we could share sensitive things like these and not consider each other as enemies/competitors. We're here to improve ourselves and the best way to raise the standard is by sharing. The people who win, of course, are the consumers! We improve our skills, and they get better products! 
One of the things that we discussed was how to run the business properly, and how to charge clients appropriately, especially when the shoot hours overrun. Interestingly enough, most of us left high paying careers to pursue this passion. (ok not all of us). Fiona was working in the IT industry, Anna was in Adidas, Sharon in a design company, and I, left my full time video editing role in a production company to pursue my own business. We laughed and joked for 3-4 hours, and left feeling as if we were kindred spirits, bonded together by our similarities, and at the same time, recognizing our differences. There's a lot more women out there who could not make it to our meet. We hope to meet more regularly, you know, like a support group thingy? :) And of course, the natural reaction when other male photographers find out about this is... "When's the next meeting and where will you be???" *grin* |
