ABOUT ME - Veronica Williams

I first picked up a camera at the age of 10, when Mum sent me to a one-day photography class during the school holidays. Back then there was only film photography. It was a fun day, and I still have some of the photographs I shot. Our teacher developed our films during lunch break: I would later learn that film-developing was my least favourite part of photography. When secondary school electives needed to be chosen, I selected photography for Years 8, 9, and 10. There we learnt all aspects, from loading film into the camera, to dodging, burning, and watching our images develop in the chemical tray. One lesson, we even made our own camera out of a cardboard box. Fun times!

In my early teenage years, Dad gave me one of his old cameras, a Praktica Super TL wearing a 135mm telephoto lens (the camera he's holding below). I mastered the manual settings fairly quickly, and shot according to my finances at the time. I still have the Praktica and lens, though they're not as functional as they once were.

The years went by and my interest in photography grew. At one stage, I turned my walk-in robe into a darkroom and would lose hours in there playing with film, paper and chemicals (ahh, the smell!). Film photography taught me about the basics of lighting, camera settings, and the need to make every frame count. But it was an expensive and time-consuming hobby. As a mother of three young children and being a single income family, eventually I could no longer afford the time or the cost, so sold all my equipment and returned to paying a lab to produce my prints.

I watched with interest as digital photography was born, and eventually bought my first digital camera: a 4mp Olympus. I loved it, but it quickly became outdated. I've upgraded a number of times since then. My current kit consists of two cameras: a chunky Canon full-frame camera with a variety of lenses providing a shooting range from 14mm to 600mm that I use for my professional photography, and a smaller, lighter, gorgeous Fuji mirrorless camera with an 18-135mm lens that I use on less formal shooting days, and when I don't feel like lugging around the heavier gear.

I began shooting semi-professionally around 15 years ago as a part-time interest, while also running a household and working a full-time job. I've shot events (private, public, and government), children, families, celebrations, and donated my time to shoot fundraisers. I've also shot weddings as both primary and second photographer. I've had photographs published in magazines and government publications.

Along the way, I've had a few personal accomplishments:

I was invited to submit one of my photographs for inclusion in the book, Heart of the Arts (Wakefield Press), commemorating 40 years of South Australia's Adelaide Festival Centre.
One of my photographs was short-listed (in the top five) in the Australian Travel Photography Awards (macro category).
One of my photographs won first prize in the Your Best Shot competition, run by Australia's best-selling photography magazine, Australian Photography.
A number of my photographs have been featured on Flickr's 'Explore'.

In 2024, I was mentored by the talented and knowledgeable Mark Kaye (who was mentored by legendary photographer, Mick Rock), and I undertook Mark's fabulous Perfect Picture Academy photography course. As a self-taught photographer, the course helped me fill gaps in my technical knowledge, and I'm forever grateful to Mark for being so generous with his time and talent.

A few decades have passed since my initial interest in photography began. Now, I can't imagine life without a camera (or two).