Welcome to my new updated website! Hello, I’m Belinda from Belinda Lansley Photography. The past year has been a wonderful journey for me. I have always been into photography from a young age. My first camera cost $260 and I saved up for it when I was about 13. It was quite a hefty point and shoot Yashica film camera that took amazing photos. I was the one who took all the photos of my school friends and printed copies for them. I took the camera on the Heaphy Track age 13 with my parents and captured the wonderful golden tussocks, the bright blue skies and even my Dad poking his head out from a bush with his unshaved face (he was pretending to be a hairy monster!)
This camera was still working when I went to Europe aged 23 and I wasn’t scared of anyone stealing it as by that stage it was pretty old. However I took 20 rolls of film while away for 2 and a half months and had to get them all developed when I arrived back. The photos are all in albums and fascinate my children!
About 12 or more years ago I went to a photography course held at the University of Canterbury with my sister. We learnt how to use a DSLR and some very basic stuff. I had to buy my first DSLR camera and again went with film. I was always pretty scared to get off the Auto setting but used my AV setting quite a lot.
Fast foward a few years. After having three children and practicing on babies, toddlers and landscapes (whilst on holiday), I went from a basic digital DSLR to my wonderful Fujifilm X-T1. It was kind of a guilt present from my husband who had gone to Canada for a family wedding and then had a week jaunting around the Rockies while I stayed at home with three children. I had looked at very expensive Canon DSLRs and they were big and heavy and the tiny X-T1 was the perfect size for a person to carry on their back up a mountain and take professional quality photos. I couldn’t put this camera down. As I said to someone once, it literally changed my life. I saw things in a different way through the amazing prime lenses. It was a year after I got this camera that my workmate suggested I set up a photography business. Her ex-husband had been a well known wedding photographer. Well, this scared me stiff, I won’t lie. I knew nothing about business. I started taking photos of friends and family and then set up a small, free website on blogspot with some of my photos. Soon friends were wanting photos of their children and I had lots of jobs.
In March this year, I joined the NZIPP. It was literally from talking to my friend Craig who is the most amazing pet photographer at Furtography and how he wanted to go to an NZIPP meeting. I too had looked at their website. We gave each other courage and went to a meeting and were soon joined up. I entered the NZIPP Iris awards, the biggest photography awards in NZ, with six photos and received three awards, two silvers and a bronze. I then worked hard to become an accredited portrait photographer in July this year. It has been so exciting, challenging and a massive learning curve for me, but I can finally say I’m a photographer instead of someone who loves to take photos.