Welcome!
My Journey as a photographer...
Growing up I loved to learn and had so many interests. I still do and am always finding more! So I have never really focused on just one thing. And it’s not surprising really with an American father who was a US Navy Commander, who loved to fly planes, drive fast cars, travel and take photographs. And my English mother who studied art in Paris, loved to read, sing and play the ukulele and travel. We lived in different countries before moving to England for school, and had wonderful long summer holidays in southern Spain and the south of France.
It was my consistent love of reading and art and the fact that I was good at both which led me to study Art and the History of Modern Art at college which led me to an Art Foundation Course at Exeter College of Art & Design where I became fascinated with the art of photography…I was thrilled when I was accepted into their BA (Hons) Degree in Graphic Design. I majored in photography and began my career as a picture editor and staff photographer for a lifestyle magazine. It was a wonderful experience and I will forever appreciate the fantastic opportunity it offered me. It was the time of 35mm and Hasselblad camera’s, film, transparencies and printing presses. But over time the stress of deadlines, rushing from one photo shoot to the next, getting film processed on time, incredibly long days and being a single mom raising my two children, I lost my drive, my energy, creativity and deep passion for photography. I put away my camera professionally, worked as a Teaching Assistant and returned to drawing and painting and just taking photo’s for fun. And more importantly enjoying more time with my children.
Over the years I had many more jobs, moves, amazing travels and fantastic sailing adventures and slowly my passion for photography came back. So much so that I just wanted to be free, camp and take photographs. And I decided on the American West. Which made perfect sense as I had been living in Northern California for 16 years. I left my extremely well paid job as General Manager for a manufacturing company, put my belongings in storage, packed my jeep with my camping and photography gear and embarked on a road trip, exploring and photographing the amazing landscapes of our Western State Parks and National Parks.
Which led me to Yellowstone NP and Cody, WY for the 4th of July celebrations, and my future soul mate. I returned to Cody and Yellowstone a few more times during my road trip before finally deciding it was to be my new home. So here I am in Rural Wyoming with my soulmate working on our fixer-upper on two acres.
And now back to photography…
I loved the darkroom days of developing my own film, selecting my final images and working tirelessly on perfecting my prints and I find I apply the same aptitude and high standards when processing my raw image files in Lightroom & Photoshop and making a test print before the final print. Holding a gorgeous fine art print in my hands having experimented with different types of papers to get the perfect print is such an exciting and important part of the whole photography process and akin to the darkroom days. I was so happy when I found a supplier of fine art photographic papers milled and made in the USA.
So what’s in my studio and what camera gear do I have?
My studio equipment includes my MacBook Pro, a 27inch LG monitor, a professional large format Canon printer for making up to 13”x19” prints and a very large workbench.
My camera gear consists of a Canon 5D mark lll, a Canon 1D mark lll, various Canon L series lens, Manfotto tripods, Canon speedlights, a selection of studio lights, and lots of gadgets and filters… and my old 35mm Pentax K1000 camera from my college days.
And so in light of all my interests and not being able to focus on just one thing how can I settle on just one category to photograph? I can’t. But I aspire to being a true Fine-Art Photographer. I hope you stay with me as I continue my journey as a photographer.
Life is good.
Pamela Stracey
'Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art.'
Ansel Adams