APOY
Playing to
win When did you start taking pictures? In May 2014 I bought my first DSLR. I had a point and shoot, which I had taken on safari a couple of years earlier. I had an amazing time, but was very frustrated because everyone else kept pushing their much bigger lenses in front of me to get their photos. That was
what made me realise I really wanted to learn about photography and get it right. It took me another couple of years before I actually bought one, though, and it wasn’t until I’d saved up to go on another safari that I took the plunge, getting a Canon EOS-1D X, which I absolutely adore. I spent the next month out in
ALL PICUTURES © CARON STEELE
Caron Steele led the way from round two of Amateur Photographer of the Year and walked away with the main prize. Ailsa McWhinnie finds out how she did it
This vibrant image of a frog was taken in Costa Rica Canon EOS-1D X Mark II, 100mm, 1/200sec at f/16, ISO 400
the garden photographing anything that moved before going to Kenya.
After that first safari, were you hooked? Totally. It meant that the rest of my waking hours were spent making sure my business would earn me enough money to visit amazing countries. Photography gives me a valid reason to travel, particularly as a lone female. It means you can see amazing things with a likeminded group of people. I had barely holidayed much before I took up photography, but since being bitten by the bug I’ve been lucky enough to travel to Mongolia, Costa Rica, Botswana, the Arctic, Antarctica, the Galapagos, Yellowstone and Iceland, among many other places. I’m now cutting down on my flying because of concerns about the environment –
22
14 March 2020 I www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I subscribe 0330 333 1113
