If you’re miles away from your home and loved ones, photography is such a fantastic way to keep the people you miss involved in your every day life. In fact this was exactly why I got into photography myself.

We were in the military and living in the USA, and I bought a DSLR to take photos of my girls to send to their dad when he was deployed. I wanted to make sure he didn’t miss a single little thing. The photos were also a way for their grandparents back in Australia to see our girls growing and changing so they didn’t feel like they’d missed it all.

And that was pretty much the story of Humera Aaqib, who a CLG Advanced Grad and one of our most active and supportive members of our community. Humera and her husband moved to Australia from Pakistan, leaving their extended family behind. Humera would share photos with everyone back home via phone photos. But she wasn’t really loving the photos and she began to crave to be able to send photos that, in her words, gave her joy!

Today I’m thrilled to introduce you to Humera who has shared her why… and some seriously stunning photos!

Meet Humera

My husband and I moved to Australia from Pakistan almost 10 years ago, and now have two brilliant girls and two gorgeous cats. We settled in Perth WA, and now its our home away from home.

All my life I used to take photos with whatever camera I could get my hands on. When I was a child, my elder brother had a yashica film camera, but in order to use it we had to do jobs for him to earn a few shots! It sparked a desire to keep learning and one day get my own equipment.

 

Staying connected with family

After moving here it was a really isolating experience – no friends, no family, and even to get a job in our field required passing some exams and getting local work experience. It was a very consuming and taxing experience.

People who have left their tribe know the importance of keeping the connection, and photos are a way to include grandparents and extended family as part of our life here. I realised that capturing everyday moments via phone is good enough to share with our families overseas.

But it always left me feeling frustrated and miserable as I couldn’t pin point why my “candid photos” were not “bringing me joy’ (sorry Marie Kondo!).

So I decided to get a DSLR… which made me even more frustrated haha!

 

The answer to manual mode frustration

I thought the answer was more lenses… then presets… YouTube… but nothing worked. I had a lot of time on my hands so I decided to do a course… but there were so many choices and options that it got overwhelming.

I was a member of a spring cleaning/organisation group on Facebook back then (don’t get impressed, I still haven’t managed to clean my house 😜 ). Another member mentioned Click Love Grow’s photography Courses.

So I saved up for the Enthusiast Course, and oh boy, what an amazing experience it was!

I learned every day, and soaked up whatever I could from chats, critiques, and just by looking at images captured by previous grads and getting inspiration.

Ready for the next steps

I graduated with the desire to learn even more, so I could take my photography to the next level. So I saved a bit more and signed up for Advanced Photography Course. I was skeptical about the course at first, thinking about the cost and wondering what else could I learn… I felt that I almost knew everything already… haha rookie error!

And to say doing the Advanced Course was a mind blowing experience would be an understatement.

There was so much to learn and improve on, and I got even more confident with my technical skills, compositions, and my processing.

I was finally able to create some of the photos I used to see online and gasp… the beautiful lighting, artistic compositions, how to plan a session, creative ways to expose.

It has given me the ability to branch out and try different things, and begin breaking rules. I started experiementing with tilt shift lenses and intentional blur to create photos like these.

 

I capture anything and everything which catches my eye, be it food, a flower or plant, a smile, beautiful light or the way a vine is wrapped around something. For me photography is not my day job, and I find it very therapeutic so when I get some time alone with my camera I try and use it as an outlet.

 

An uplifting community of women

I have made so many connections all across Australia and around the world thanks to CLG in the years since I joined. I have never come across anyone in the CLG community who didn’t have anything nice to say. All the women are extremely talented and always encouraging and enabling. So much so that I often don’t have any need to look at the work of photographers outside of CLG, because I get my daily dose of inspiration from the CLG tribe.

 

 

Learning with Click Love Grow

I often get asked by friends or family about how to learn to take good photos, and I always recommend Click Love Grow. Not only because the Enthusiast and Advanced courses and the creative workshops are exceptional, but also the support we get from the community is priceless.

 

Before & After

As always, we love to share a before and after set of images as visual evidence of what you can achieve after just 8 weeks learning with Click Love Grow. Check out Humera’s B&A… incredible!

Big thank you to Humera for your story and beautiful images! If you want to see more of Humera’s work, check her out over here.

If you’re already shooting in manual mode, on our Advanced Photography Course you will learn to shoot with confidence in any scenario, and push yourself creatively to find and develop your style through intensive 1:1 critique on your work.  Our next course is starting soon… join our wait list to get an email when we go on sale!