Meet Serena Pearce of Code Lime Photography
1. How did you start in photography?
It’s certainly going to show my age but I actually still have my very first camera which I received for my 10th birthday way back in the 1970’s - a little point and shoot film cartridge camera – the Kodak Ektralite 10. The resulting images ARE iconic eg the visiting international Chinese ping pong team & the Albany Whaling Station in full swing, but the quality/composition/lighting is somewhat lacking!
There must have been a few cameras in between (and a Bachelor degree in Physiotherapy) but once I was entrenched in the 8am-4pm of work at RPH that I had time to pursue my creative passions at Night School at Subiaco TAFE with my favourite of all being photography!
Here I branched out to the world of the SLR camera with the Fujica STX-1. A completely manual film camera boasting a top speed of 1//700sec & a slowest of ½ sec it even had a Bulb setting! Together with a couple of Tamron lenses I was in “seventh heaven” learning all from the type-writer & hand drawn lecture notes (it WAS the pre-computer 80’s … & yes I still have those notes!) & shooting & developing mostly black & white prints & sepia (still have those too … classic hairstyles & clothing!) But it was a good lesson in how to shoot accurately to save money.
Physio still chugged along in the background, albeit on a part time basis, but my ever-increasing photography skills were a bonus when a friend & I (both with small children) decided to venture into children’s clothing design & manufacture with our label Hopscotch Children’s Clothing. Shooting children & babies in winter clothing in the height of a Perth summer in February or in next-to-no clothes in August for the upcoming brochures was a challenge in many ways but the business grew exponentially until I sold it in 1999.
In the mid naughties I begrudgingly decided to make the transition to the wonderful world of digital with a Canon 400D. I was again looking for a career change and a photographic safari in Namibia provided the impetus. Andrew Thomasson from Focus 10 photography in Sydney (later to become my partner in Photography Space - our online photography course business https://www.photographyspace.com.au/) was leading the tour for World Expeditions and commented that he thought I “had talent & was tenacious” … so like a red rag to a bull I had decided to make my hobby my career. By the end of the trip I had registered Code Lime Photography as a business, designed a logo and enrolled in a one year online Diploma of Photography. That was in 2008 and other than upgrading the cameras and lenses along the way (currently shooting with the Canon 5D Mk4)… “the rest is history”!
(I promise that not all my answers will be that long winded so here are a couple of brief ones as an interlude!)
2. What advice do you have for those starting out?
There are three things that I would suggest :
- if you are transitioning from another career and still need ongoing income, then keep your original job going until you can build up your photography career. This may take a couple of years, so don’t be disillusioned. If you are passionate, driven & professional and provide good service with a smile, you WILL succeed!
- the old saying of “its not what you know, it’s who you know” still stands true. With a husband that’s an architect and friends in real estate that’s where I started …and then one thing leads to another
- join the Copyright Agency https://www.copyright.com.au/ for free. I have earnt over $12,000 in additional income over the past 7 years just for having my works appear in print (newspapers, magazines etc)
- Image
Image by Serena Pearce
3. What has been one of the most memorable moments in your career so far?
It’s always a buzz when you see your work in print particularly when you are acknowledged as the photographer. I love shooting beautiful homes for real estate, interior designers, builders & architects. My recent architectural photography work of Haldane Haus is featured in this Septembers Fabric Quarterly (Issue 14) https://fabricquarterly.com.au/ and The Architect WA https://www.thearchitectwa.com/.
One of my other highlights was having five of my drone photography artworks installed on the ceiling at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in 2020 so long term medical patients have a “room with a view”. On the subject of drones, I completed the CASA Remote Pilots License & Radio Operators Certificate last year – in an attempt to gain confidence in flying my DJI Phantom 4 drone for commercial purposes … the former was successful but the latter was less so! I still get nervous every time I fly the drone but this didn’t stop me putting it up in 55kph winds over Hutt Lagoon. These images were totally worth it … some of my best abstract landscape images EVER - which I have had printed as three 1200 x 900mm image wrap canvases (thanks to Fitzgeralds Photo Imaging https://fitzgeraldphoto.com.au/).
Finally, the opportunity to photograph famous people is always exciting … Michael McCormack & Christian Porter for Harvis Corp’s northern gateway Muchea Development in 2020 and Professors Fiona Stanley and Fiona Wood, when commissioned as the event photographer for the Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Ophthalmology conference in 2017 are stand outs.
4. What is your guilty pleasure?
I have many … but they can probably be narrowed down to:
- good food & wine with family & friends
- cooking - I love trying new recipes and my favourites at the moment are Middle Eastern
- clothes - creating new combination of outfits (with matching earrings & necklaces) from my wardrobe to wear each day to photoshoots … I have been described as “flamboyant” …LOL!
- travel – I love adventure travel … from The Kimberley to Arnhem Land, Cooper Pedy to The Birdsville Races - outback Australia is amazing. Then there was Dark Mofo in Hobart, adventures in Cuba, Mexico, Morocco, Egypt, Namibia, New York, a Jewish wedding in Israel, the Cherry Blossom festival in Japan, the Pushkar Camel Festival in India and following Joanna Lumley’s Silk Road sojourn to Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran (no drone flying or mention of past visits to Israel there!). The hill tribes of the Omo Valley in Ethiopia was cancelled in 2020 but is still on the bucket list.
5. Tell us what you’ve got going on with your photography and/or business right now?
There’s never a dull moment and I have been fortunate to have one of my busiest months ever. As you can probably gauge from my preceding ranting & raving I would call myself a “generalist photographer”. So as a snippet into the workings of my business I thought I would outline my workflow from last week. Fortunately, it’s not always this hectic!
Sunday 7 August
Family Portrait Shoot - Subiaco
Airbnb photos – Cottesloe
Monday 8 August
Edge Employment Solutions Annual Report Portrait Photos – Malaga
An afternoon of Editing of 5 photoshoots in Lightroom & Photoshop
Tuesday 9 August
Two Acqua Physio water-based exercise classes – yes, I am still also a registered physio, the participants are lovely and I get paid to exercise!
Edge Employment Solutions Annual Report Portrait Photos – Burswood
Real Estate Photoshoot – Joondanna
Real Estate Photoshoot – Mt Hawthorn
Editing of above mentioned 3 photoshoots
Wednesday 10 August
Edge Employment Solutions Annual Report Portrait Photos – Eglinton
Property Management Photoshoot – Ascot
Real Estate Photoshoot – Mt Hawthorn
Twilight Real Estate Photoshoot – Joondanna
Editing of the above mentioned 4 photoshoots
Thursday 11 August
Property Management Photoshoot – Mosman Park
Video & Real Estate Photoshoot – Claremont
Architectural Photoshoot – Trigg
Editing of the above mentioned 3 photoshoots
Friday 12 August
Two more Acqua Physio water-based exercise classes
Drone & Real Estate Photoshoot – Mt Lawley
Editing of the above mentioned photoshoot
Saturday 13 August
A day off … yay!
Sunday 14 August
Running a Wildlife & Nature Photography Course – Perth Zoo
Running a Portrait Photography Course – UWA grounds
So, like many others, life is busy!
But, whilst I love what I do and can see myself continuing in the profession for at least the next 10 years I do have another project on the go that maybe a little more “passive” – I will be adding a Fine Arts Gallery to my website for the sale of prints and canvases … thanks again to Fitzgeralds !
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