I’m New Here
I’m new here. Well, kind of. I am not new to exploring the great outdoors or taking pictures. I am new to creating a website and showcasing my work!
I thought I should take some time on my first blog post to elaborate more about my journey in photography. If you’ve already read the “about me” section on the site, you already know that I’m an East Coast gal through and through. I grew up surrounded of the beauty of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. From the moment I got my first car near the end of high school, I was determined to explore every inch, waterfall and mountain on the island. My weekends felt empty and incomplete if I didn’t go on some type of outdoor adventure. I scoured social media and google maps to find new places to explore. Perhaps a waterfall or hiking trail I haven’t discovered. Sometimes even just a drive down a dirt road that I’ve never been down would fulfill my appetite for adventure.
I have always enjoyed taking photos and videos on my adventures and posting them to social media. At first, I was totally satisfied with the image quality my iPhone had to offer. It got the job done, and created much interest from my friends and family. The rush of having a local tourism instagram account sharing my posts inspired me to do more. I received my first DSLR and it was my workhorse for years. My Pentax K50 was built like a tank, and perfect for outdoor adventures. I remember it falling out of a vehicle when opening the car door, and a small scratch was the only damage. Like my iPhone, my skills in photography hit a plateau that I was quite happy with at the time.
My Pentax K50 served me well through some of the most important and fun times of my life. Even though, sadly I used it in “auto” mode for the first few years, I finally said enough was enough and went to a few photography classes, trying to grasp shutter speed, aperture and iso. It’s a learning curve for anyone new to photography but it is so worth it. I’m happy that I could grasp it when I did, because my lens was just getting ready to accompany me on some pretty epic adventures! My pentax DSLR was by my side for a cross country Canada drive from coast to coast. My best friend and I took on travel nursing in 2018 and drove to British Columbia (the second most beautiful province). My Pentax came along with me on trips to Las Vegas, South East Asia, Yellowstone National Park, and many more adventures. My Pentax captured the beauty of my cousin’s destination wedding. My Pentax filmed the surprise proposal my husband set up on the shores of Kinney Lake (Mt. Robson, BC). It captured our new puppy, and many family portraits. My Pentax has seen a lot of adventures during it’s time. But, like all good things, they must come to an end.
My camera was stolen! and it was the best thing ever. Weird reaction isn’t it? Well, it took me a while to get there. My workhorse camera was stolen nearly two years ago, from inside our vehicle. Initially, I felt pretty upset to lose something I had grown so connected to. Something that had captured some of the most beautiful things in my life. It didn’t help that only weeks prior to this occurrence, my instagram of about 3k followers was hacked and non-retrievable. Not only was I mad about losing all my followers, but that my virtual journal of adventures neatly put into chronological order were gone forever (instagram was not helpful in restoring). But the days following fuelled a promise that I made to myself. I was going to actually do the damn thang. I was going to start taking photography seriously. Like for real, this time.
Thankfully I do have my backup camera that I had purchased for its small size for travelling, A canon EOS M100. Nothing fancier looking than a point and shoot, I figured I would try to see what I could do with it. I purchased a 200mm “zoom” lens, and felt like I had opened up a whole new world. Instantly, I was amazed by the birds vibrant colours and behaviours that could not be seen with the naked eye. It wasn’t long before I was setting my alarm for 5:30 in the morning and setting up shop in the tall grass waiting for wildlife to appear. It did not take long for me to outgrow this camera setup and crave better image quality, and better skills from myself.
After what I thought at the time was a lot of research, I decided to stick with the canon brand and ordered an EOS 6D mark ii and a sigma 150-600mm wildlife lens (I can’t believe I didn’t go mirrorless either). Certainly not a beginner setup, but a moderate risk purchase without completely breaking the bank. Once I received the beautiful brand new baby, I was fired up about getting into some wildlife photography. I spend nearly as much time outside shooting as I did researching animal behaviours, ethics of wildlife photography, and post processing of images. I unfortunately spent a fraction of this time comparing myself to lifelong wildlife photographers. Don’t Do it !! You can’t expect to be new in this niche and come out with world award winning results. After giving myself some time to learn, and some time for my confidence to catch up, I’m ready to put myself out there. Having a website has been something I’ve wanted for a long time, but didn’t have the motivation or confidence to bring to fruition until now. I hope that someday, or even today, I can inspire a photographer to put themselves out there. Thanks for reading!
Meredith Stead Photography
Photo Credit; Melissa Cherry. Follow them on instagram @melcherryy
