Mari Owen Photography
This week we put the questions to Welsh based Freelance Photographer Mari Owen
Mari Owen
. What got you into photography?
As a young child, I thought my Dad’s Polaroid camera was magical. To see the pictures appearing before my eyes was fascinating to me and I think that sparked something which has remained in me ever since. I’ve had a camera of some sort since those days, but it was only really when I got my first film SLR, an Olympus OM20, that I thought of taking more than just family snaps. I did a lot of walking the Welsh mountains, coasts and hills, and watching the changing light made me want to capture what was in front of me, so I combined the two and just practised and practised, teaching myself by trial and error to use the camera manually, to compose and to work with the light.
2. How long have you been shooting for?
Since childhood as a hobby and then seriously since about 2003, turning it into my profession from 2005 until 2019.
3. What do you most like to shoot?
My first passion is landscape and seascape photography, and I also love shooting moody black and whites and portraits.
4. What is the most important lesson you’ve learned in your career so far?
To always triple check your kit before going to a paid shoot. I picked up my camera to start shooting the bride’s preparation at a wedding, and realised that there wasn’t a battery in it! I checked my bag and luckily, I had picked up the whole charger with the battery in it and put it all into my bag, and I had a back up camera, but it was a hairy moment!
5. What is the hardest part of working as a photographer?
I am not working professionally at the moment, due to various things, but when I was, it was the marketing of both myself as a photographer and my photo archive which I found the most challenging.
6. If money was no object, what would your dream camera be or are you happy with what you
have?
I’ve been very happy with using the Canon 5D mk2 for years, and still am. It’s an amazing piece of kit for it’s time, but I’d love to maybe upgrade to the mirrorless Canon R5 or similar one day.
7. Do you have any photography inspirations and who are they?
I love classics such Ansel Adams for landscape, Wynn Bullock for abstract and black and white. Dorothea Lange for her vision. For more contemporary images I really like the work of Pembrokeshire photographer David Wilson. I don’t do much wildlife photography but really enjoy the work of nature photographer Stefan Christmann whose penguin photography is superb. Also Beth Moon for her trees.
8. Is there anywhere or anything that you haven’t photographed but you’d love to and why?
I’ve always had a pull to go to Newfoundland to do some landscape photography there. I’ve been to New Zealand but it was summer when I visited, I’d love to go back and photograph the winter there, especially the South Island.
9. What advice would you give to a photographer regardless of gender just starting out?
Definitely to find their own style and not to be too hung up on “rules”. To decide how far they want to take their photography. It’s a whole different ballgame doing it professionally to just doing it as a hobby. To learn the technicalities but to shoot from the heart.
10. What’s the one question you wish I’d asked you and how would you have answered ?
Q. What have been the moments in your photographic career so far that you have been most proud
of?
I submit photos to image galleries who deal in book covers. I always feel very proud when an author/editor chooses one of my photos for their book cover, and when I see it in print in a bookshop. I also collaborated on a bilingual English/Welsh poetry and photography book Alcemi Dŵr /Alchemy of Water, which we presented at the Hay Festival in 2013 and that was a special moment.
Garn
Golden Cliffs
Sheep and Elephant
Llyn-Dinas
To find out more about Mari and her work please visit the links below.