NZPhotographer Issue 53, March 2022

Taking Photos To Remember
Interview with Wendy Pemberton
replaced with photography these days. However, I
don’t have any desire to become professional as I love it
as a hobby and think that making photography my work
could change my love for it.
HOW AND WHEN DID YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY
JOURNEY BEGIN?
I first starting taking photos with my parents' little
Instamatic film camera when I was about 10 years
old, taking snaps of my cats, dog, and hens mostly.
I’ve always had a camera since then, the point and
shoot variety which was usually used for taking family
or holiday snaps. About 8 years ago my husband
bought me my first DSLR camera, you could say that’s
when my interest in photography started but I think
that’s when my interest in photography progressed.
It really started when I joined our local camera club
(Whitianga Photographic Club) as that is when I
realised how little I really knew about my camera and
photography!
WENDY, WHY DON’T YOU INTRODUCE
YOURSELF TO US?
My younger years from around the age of five were
spent on Stewart Island. From 3rd form, I boarded at
Endwood Girls' Hostel in Invercargill and by the 4th form
my family had moved to Invercargill and I attended
Southland Girls' High School. My family moved to
Invercargill for my 4th form year onward. After leaving
school I worked in Admin and Accounting in Invercargill
before moving north to Wellington then on to Hamilton
before returning to rural life.
I now live in the South Waikato with my husband and
2 dogs on a dairy farm with a few sheep, chickens,
and also deer. I work in an admin role for the farming
company which gives me the flexibility to work from
our farm or at our beach house on the Coromandel
Peninsular.
Up until about 3 years ago, my creative outlet was
mainly patchwork and quilting but this has been largely
TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR JOURNEY WITH THE
WHITIANGA PHOTOGRAPHIC CLUB AND HOW
JOINING A CLUB HELPED YOU IMPROVE YOUR
PHOTOGRAPHY...
I had a real challenge taking my camera off the auto
setting prior to joining the photographic club. I don’t
remember using the manual settings, successfully
anyway. I even travelled to Africa on auto, it didn’t
stop me capturing some images I love of the
awesome wildlife in my travels, but I know I could do a
lot better now.
When I joined the Whitianga Photographic Club we
would meet up during the month for a workshop and
go over the challenge that was set for the month. Club
members were only too happy to help with advice on
anything camera related and were very encouraging
in helping me get off of auto. Together with their help
and going online for help with f stops, Googling ‘What
setting lets more light in’ and ‘which is bigger, f/4 or
f/22’, I finally had an aha moment when one of the
online tutors described them as a fraction, so 1/4th or
1/22th.... 1/4th (a quarter) being a much larger portion
of pie than a piece of pie cut into 22 pieces.
I really can’t emphasise enough how important our
camera club has been on my journey. Today, I’m on
the admin team for the club so feel like I’m giving
something back.
26 March 2022 NZPhotographer