“I’ve often described myself as a “Jack of all trades,” and that’s a title I fully embrace.

After graduating, I worked in international advertising and marketing before starting my own consultancy. For twelve years, my life was shaped by frequent travel due to my husband’s job, which took us across various continents. It was towards the end of this period, that I experienced a “light bulb moment.” I wanted to do something good, and inspired by my travels, I decided to import arts and crafts from Zimbabwe and sell them in the UK. My goal was to raise funds for educational bursaries to help girls stay in school — a cause close to my heart.

This endeavour collided with my interest in photography which had been simmering in the background. For many years, I had enjoyed chronicling family, friends, holidays and life, and I had built up 32 albums which record many events. I began taking photos of people in Zimbabwe to tell the story of where these crafts originated from. This led to the creation of an exhibition and the publication of a book “A Resource Guide to Zimbabwe Craft”.

 

As time passed, my focus shifted from importing crafts to fully immersing myself in photography. Over the past fifteen years, I’ve honed my skills in macro, portrait, and landscape photography – all very representational techniques. I began with close-ups, primarily of flowers, before moving to landscapes, whilst learning a lot about F stops, focal lengths, filters, tripods, lenses and how heavy all the equipment can be when you have to get up before dawn to photograph a beautiful landscape at sunrise.

The covid pandemic meant no holidays and few opportunities to go and find wonderful flowers or landscapes, so that led me going through a metamorphosis into the exciting world of creative abstraction. This process involves layering up to nine images, and adjusting the exposure or temperature between shots, followed by detailed editing. Each composition is an exploration of the unknown—a journey into creativity without boundaries.…

I did not begin my career in the arts, but over the past decade and a half, I have been fortunate enough to explore my creative side and refine my artistic style. I’ve learned that creativity has no age limit. As we age, we have the opportunity to appreciate more of our surroundings, notice things we might have overlooked in the past, and uncover aspects of our character that we hadn’t previously nurtured.

My next project is to create a beautiful photography book. With over 29,000 photos on my computer, it will take some time to compile everything, but I am looking forward to the challenge!

I am also thrilled to have been invited to judge this year’s Circle Square photography competition. The theme, “Timeless Beauty,” resonates with me on a personal level, and I’m excited to see how each participant expresses this concept through their photographs. Everyone’s perception of beauty is unique, which makes this competition even more intriguing.”

Circle Square Q&A

What 3 words best describe you? Community-minded, energetic, modest.

If you could offer your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be? Be content.  Appreciate what you’ve got. Don’t always be looking for the next thing.

What do you consider to be your greatest achievement? My family.

Which person (dead or alive) would you most like to invite to dinner? I would really like to sit with my father and my father-in-law because there’s so much about their lives that I don’t know.

How has age strengthened your advantage?I’ve got time now to be content.

Check out Jane’s work at Janesphotography.com and enter our competition!

This year’s theme is “Timeless Beauty”. Send your photo to info@sharecirclesquare.com by 31st January and be in for a chance to win a stunning photograph or picture from Jane’s collection.