Take a look into the life of Sian Lewis, our Photo of the Month award winner in October. I had the privilege of chatting with Sian a little bit for her feature article. I think it’s one of the most rewarding parts of my job. Her story is just below. Thanks and congrats, Sian!

I’d love to say that I’m one of those people that was born with a camera in my hand. I’d even like to say that I knew that I wanted to be a photographer from the first time I heard the shutter click. Truth is, it never crossed my mind. I do have one funny childhood memory of going to a Hawking Centre at age 7, then shooting through an entire roll of film in 5 minutes–on one bird.

I took a photography class when I was in college. It was part of my major, so learning to shoot film was good practice. I think this really helped me out when I purchased my first DSLR. At first, I was a keen hobbyist, and enjoyed personal shooting for a number of years. I made the jump to being a full-time photographer when my TV production position ended. It was about 5 years ago.

Things have grown pretty fast, for me. I’ve opened my own studio, been published nationally and internationally, and I’ve won several awards with the Guild of Photographers. One of the most important things that I’ve done is develop my personal style. Now, I think I know what really fits me. Most of my work is in the studio, so that’s all I think about right now. Who knows what the future will bring.

The big game changers for me this year were buying Joel Grimes’ Creative Live course and discovering Alien Skin’s Exposure (Thank you, Sue Bryce!). I heard Sue talk about Alien Skin, but I assumed it was for creating flawless skin in photos. Then, I saw her demo how she uses it, so I gave it a whirl. I was instantly hooked.

Exposure gives me the tools to give depth and tone in images that I’d been hungry for, but could never quite achieve. Many of the presets work perfectly just how they are. I love being able to customise my own presets, too. It’s such a powerful piece of software. I tend to use presets that give a shot warm tones, such as Kodachrome ll muted, Technicolor Process 4 – Faded, and Wizard of Oz.

I still have a long way to go on my photographic journey. I’m excited to see where I can go with Alien Skin on my side. ;-)