When I was about 3 my Dad was involved with the Normanton Rodeo Committee. I remember being out at the Grounds when the buckjumpers came in before the Rodeo. At that time the Rodeo had their own horses. On the days of the actual Rodeo we sat in the tray of the ute which was backed up to the arena fence and watched. Not Dad - he was busy in the back yards. I was only young, but I distinctly remember watching the photographer inside the arena moving around the bucking stock, climbing rails and still managing to record the action, manually winding the film on between shots. What a cool job!
Fast forward several years and I created a version of that job for myself. It's never been my main source of income, more of a side hustle, but it has taught me so much and given me a body of work that I'm proud of.
My interest in photography began in childhood. We always had cameras in our house. My Dad took a lot of photos when he was a ringer in the early 70’s and we have a LOT of slides. I always thought it was pretty cool that I could get a glimpse of his life before I was born, before he even met my Mum. Photographs are a very important part of our personal history.
I always had basic point and shoot cameras. On my way to Cyprus for the 2007 World Championships (where I was shooting ISSF Skeet) a little bit of duty-free therapy resulted in another point and shoot , but this one had a selective colour mode.
Playing around with that setting I took this photo at the Gun Club. I liked it so much that I entered it in the Springsure Show and won Most Creative Exhibit.
Right. Hooked!
(There's actually quite a lot 'wrong' with this image, so if I ever get back to Cyprus I'll re-shoot it if the umbrellas haven't been retired.)
I bought my first Digital SLR camera, and luckily for me there was a workshop happening in Rolleston soon after that, so I went along. Turned out that I just couldn’t get enough of it. I read, experimented and learned from everyone that I could.
Armed with my first “big” camera I found a rodeo to attend and gave it a go. Needless to say that those first few attempts were fairly pitiful (sorry about that), but we all have to start somewhere, and I made it a mission to learn how to do it better.
I bought higher quality gear that could handle the light better. I talked to many, many competitors about what makes a good photo of their chosen event, and judges as well to understand the event itself. Timing is such an important part of getting the right shot. It’s not just about freezing the action sharply, it’s more about freezing it at a time that shows the rider, and often the horse in the best possible position.
What I do now is quite different to what I did when I was starting out with equine events. Where once I used to just turn up and take photos and hope that people liked them, and possibly buy some, now I cover the event for the committee in a paid capacity. Fairy don’t work for free.
You’re probably thinking “What do fairies have to do with any of this?”. Nothing really. So, where does the name "Purple Fairy" come from? It's not a very interesting story unfortunately. When I first decided to post some photos on social media I thought that I needed to create a watermark, and therefore needed a photography name. I didn't want to use "My Name" Photos or "My Initials" Photography. I like to do things a little bit differently. I didn’t have a genre of photography to focus on (that’s a photographer joke – insert eye roll) so didn’t want to pigeonhole myself. At the time we were making a Fairy garden at the Kindy where I worked, so I was inspired to have fairy in the name. Then I needed an adjective for the fairy. Why not Purple? After all, it's the Best. Colour. Ever! Imagery seemed like a good fit because my writing (such that it was) was quite descriptive and I liked to evoke images with words. Purple Fairy Imagery was born. As it turned out it was a choice that helped people remember my work. Purple Fairy is much more memorable than Cherie, unless you’re a John Davidson fan like my Mum and you like that bloody song. (Mum doesn’t rate the Stevie Wonder version btw.)
I am someone who believes that if you undertake something, however small, you do it to the best of your ability. If it's not up to scratch I work on it because near enough is not good enough for me. I'm boots and all to the point where I am almost obsessive about trying to do better and to be better.
One downside to being a passionate person is that I often care "too much", and that can be lonely and somewhat frustrating because I must accept that the majority of people don't care in the same way. Sometimes it's a lack of understanding, but most often it's because our wiring is different. Different strokes for different folks as they say. What I can do is explain my position in the hopes that someone will find it enlightening and at least try and understand where I'm coming from.
My advice about equine event photography (probably any form of photography actually) is this:
1. What's your goal? Identify your why.
If it's to represent an event or subject in the best possible way, then welcome to the club. We should get t-shirts printed. If it's to take images with the goal of eliciting reactions of cringing astonishment in the viewer and distribute with no regard for the content perhaps equine events is not your area. Maybe try the paparazzi?
2. Learn about what you're shooting.
What timing, position and form produces a positive photo of that activity? Do the research. Respect your subject.
3. Publish images that fit with 1 and 2.
Have integrity. Quality images over quantity. By "publish" I mean put out into the world, including posting on social media (even on private pages).
4. Encourage organising committees to take more ownership of the way they allow their event to be portrayed.
I don't take crash photos. I don't see that as censorship. I see it as part of my job to produce and select appropriate images for my clients. Very rarely will a portrait photographer request that clients arrive to a photo shoot with no make-up and bed hair... unless that's the brief. I have a responsibility to my subjects and clients and I don't take that lightly.
I’m still striving for “THE” photo. That perfectly timed, perfectly exposed, perfectly in focus, perfectly framed shot. It’s probably a unicorn, but hey, I like them too.
It's been quite a party, ain't it?
Purple Fairy
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