Most of our students who join the Advanced Photography Course sign up because they want to find their style, and become confident to shoot in any situation. They want to elevate the level of their work so they can move beyond capturing good photos… to amazing, wall worthy photos! The feeling of seeing a stunning photo YOU took of the people YOU love most in the world, framed in pride of place on the wall, is pretty special!

And the quest for that very feeling is exactly what drew CLG Advanced Grad Bek Alexander to join us, and it continues to inspire her photography journey today…

 

 

Meet Bek!

Hi, I’m Bek! I’m a professional lifestyle photographer from Perth, Western Australia, a mum of four, and our family’s memory keeper. I love to capture our family’s adventures from the everyday moments to the milestones and everything in between. I used to always get FOMO going out places and spotting a beautiful backdrop but not having my camera in hand, so now it comes everywhere with me… just in case!

Precious Childhood Memories

If I think back to my childhood, the first image that comes to mind is of my dad with a camera around his neck. He was always taking pictures of us as children, leaving us with beautifully documented memories as a lasting legacy. He even plastered an entire wall in our family home with a collage of photos from our childhood – perfectly unposed and candid shots of birthdays, Christmases, hot summers, holidays, and everything in between.

So when I became a parent myself, I knew I wanted to be the documentarian of our own little family.

But as I began capturing my children’s milestones and their cute little smiles with my phone or my point-and-shoot camera, I became increasingly frustrated with the disappointing, dismal and blurry results!

An Exercise In Frustration

Sensing my frustration, my dad picked up an old Nikon DSLR from a garage sale, and gave it to me to learn photography with. And my wonderful partner jumped on board, too, gifting me a “photography workshop”.

Well, it might as well have been in another language! It was a one-day crash course, and by the end of the day, I was even more confused and deflated than I’d been at the start!

But I was determined to get the hang of my new (to me) camera! So I started googling “learn photography” and “how to use a DSLR”…

Enter Click Love Grow!

I stumbled across Click Love Grow, and it sounded like exactly what I’d been searching for. So I signed up for the Enthusiast Photography Course, and sure enough, all of a sudden, all that confusing manual mode stuff suddenly started to make sense!

Lou breaks everything down in a way that really just clicked for me, and from then on, I was hooked!

The Advanced Photography Course felt like a natural progression after the Enthusiast Course, but I procrastinated for a bit because I was worried I wasn’t ‘advanced’ enough for an advanced course. I needn’t have worried!

In fact, my advice to anyone thinking about taking the Advanced Course but feeling a bit apprehensive? Don’t be! My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner!

Lessons That Make Sense

Just like with the Enthusiast Course, the Advanced Course lessons are designed to be super flexible, and the whole course is paced to give you plenty of time to practice each lesson before moving on to the next.

Interestingly enough, my favourite lesson was also the lesson that pushed me the most – the High Key/Low Key lesson.

In this lesson I learned terms I had never heard before, and it forced me waaaay out of my comfort zone, which challenged me, but the images I took during this lesson remain some of my favourite photos to this day.

I also loved the light lesson, and learning about all the different types of portrait light, plus my all-time favourite type of light, backlight! Mastering backlight during the Advanced Course helped give me the confidence to take the plunge and start my own photography business.

The Power of Constructive Feedback

One of my favourite aspects of the Advanced Course was the 1:1 instructor feedback I got on each image that I submitted to the course albums.

The feedback was always detailed, well-thought out and constructive – the instructors always pointed out what I’d done well, as well as giving me tips on how I could strengthen my images.

I also enjoyed the opportunity to learn from other students, both by reading the instructor feedback on their images and by learning to give (and receive) critique on my fellow students’ images.

Now I’m The Memory Keeper

When I started my journey with Click Love Grow, my goal was to become skilled enough with my camera to capture beautiful, wall-worthy images of my children and family, just like my dad did when I was growing up. And that is still 100% my ‘why’ when it comes to photography.

But Click Love Grow has given me so much more. In photography, I’ve found the creative outlet that I never knew I needed, the perfect antidote to my serious, corporate day job in Employment Relations.

I’ve also been able to build a my own professional family and kids photography business, which is a nice little side hustle for both the creative release and the extra income. I still pinch myself that I get to meet amazing people, have so much fun and create stunning images!

A Priceless Skill

My favourite quote is “A photograph is the pause button on life” by Ty Holland. I can’t think of any better way to describe what photography means to me.  My beautiful dad passed away a couple of months ago and I cherish every single photo I’ve ever taken of him, even the imperfect ones.

Photography has become so much more for me than a just a hobby or a business – it has helped me through some really challenging moments, and I am SO grateful to Click Love Grow for giving me the tools to create images that I will love, always.

Before & After

We love a good before and after set, and Bek’s is a winner! Her before shot is still super cute, but check out her after shot – gorgeous tones, fab leading lines, perfectly exposed even in that challenging full sun and how about those puffy white clouds? Breathtaking!

 

Thank you Bek for taking the time to share your CLG experience and gorgeous photos! If you want to see more of Bek’s work you can find her over here.

 

If you’re shooting in manual mode, our Advanced Photography Course is the next step. You will learn to shoot with confidence in any scenario, and push yourself creatively to develop your style through intensive 1:1 critique on your work.  Our next course is starting soon.. click HERE to find out more!