Photography – How I got to where I am today!

How I got to where I am today within my Photography career and started Mamma Bear Memories.

My name is Gemma, also known as Gem and Mummy.

Since the age of 16 photographs have been my life. Photographs tell a story! We all have our own story!

My love of cameras started with the classic disposable film camera. Paying extra at Max Spielman to have it developed in an hour!

I loved the excitement of seeing the photographs, some would be terrible some would be great it was lottery of 24 exposures!

Not many things in life any more is a surprise. Technology is so good, instant pictures on the back of your camera.

We can even find out what gender our baby is through technology now, a basic scan wasn’t even around when my mum was pregnant with me.

The Start of my Education in Photography

The excitement of photographs kept me wanting to produce more, so after completing my art foundation and specialising in photography back in 2004.  I then went on to complete a HND in photography and pass with nearly all distinctions.

By the this point I had learnt how to photograph with my dad’s amazing SLR film camera. Digital cameras were starting to take over so when I started my HND course and I then purchased my first digital camera, a Nikon D80 SLR.

After leaving college in 2006 there was so many paths, which way was I going to go with my photography career.

My first photography job was in a studio within a baby shop. It was very busy and non stop, a really good learning curve. It was so busy that customers appeared to be just a number. I wanted to change this and make the experience all about the customer.

Setting up a partnership business

I met a really good Friend Emma, we both thought the same way and had great ideas. So we followed our dreams and set up our own business together in 2007.

It made me so happy doing what I love. Photographing customers and running it our way. Making sure each customer has the time they needed, to capture the true personality of each child or family.

I always had a secure job to work along side of our business. In 2013 a job came up as a Medical Photographer which is very rare as it is a specialised job. I worked very hard to get myself an interview and I was over the moon to find out I had been successful, I got the job.

Continuing to run our business together, and work at a local hospital. I also completed my post-graduate certificate in Medical Photography during 2016.

Also in 2016 my baby girl Hallie was born and made mine and her Daddy’s world and also turned it upside down ??.

Discovering Mamma Bear Memories

After maternity leave was over, life was very hectic with a little person.  Me and Emma both had little ones with busy lives, so we decided to open our own separate businesses. This would help fit our work around our little ones.

Once getting used to the craziness of being a mum, I started working on setting up a new business on my own which is now known as ‘Mamma Bear Memories’.

I have been working as a Medical Photographer for just over 5 years. I love how everyday in the hospital is so different.

Medical photography is a specialised area of photography, it is the documentation of the clinical presentation of patients, medical and surgical procedures for teaching and research and to aid patient treatment.

As a Medical Photographer I capture 3D Images, Video and Thermal images. Thermography is reletaively new within the hospital and I have recently qualified as a Thermographer.

I am very lucky to have the luxury of having two great and very different jobs within photography that I love.

So this is how I got to where I am today.

Love

Gemma

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