How I Got Here: Photographer Anne Stroud
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Admit it, we’ve all been there—deep dive stalking social media and LinkedIn profiles, trying desperately to figure out how the hell someone got their dream job.
It seems impossible and yet there they are, living out your career fantasy (minus the itchy business suit). It might seem hard to believe, but once upon a time, they were also fantasising about their future career, and with some hard work, they made it.
Welcome to How I Got Here, HerCanberra’s series that reveals everything you wanted to know about the secrets of career success.
Open a design magazine and chances are you will see this Canberra-based interior photographer Anne Stroud. It’s a career that is a million miles away from her training…As a midwife! Here’s how she got here.
Existential crisis time: Who are you and what do you do?
I am Anne Stroud, an Australian Architectural and Interiors photographer based in Canberra, my work has been published in print and online for various publications such as Design Anthology, Belle Magazine, Grand Design Magazine, Inside Out, Home Beautiful, Sanctuary Magazine, Artichoke, Qantas magazine, Domino Magazine (US) etc, mother of two young boys, wife, avid tennis fanatic, closet chef and traveller.
Let’s go back to when you were a kid, have you always dreamed of working in this industry?
To be honest I wanted to be a lot of things, I was always told that I could be whoever I wanted to be as long as I worked hard towards my goals and that sentiment still holds true for me. Growing up in the 90’s in Sydney, I absolutely loved school. I was very good at most things be it in Science, Maths, Literature, I loved it all so much. I particularly focused all my attention in debating and oration, I thought I was going to be a lawyer or someone who loved to argue their point. However my curiosity lead me to an old film Pentax camera I purchased from a garage sale which led me a to the rabbit hole of photography. I used to carry this camera with me everywhere, I always thought of it as a hobby and never did the thought of being a professional enter my mind.
Tell us about when you were first starting out, what set a fire in your belly to get here and how did you do it?
My boyfriend at the time (now my husband!) bought me my first digital camera as a present. I was still in university studying my other profession as a midwife and I immediately enrolled myself in Sydney East College because I genuinely wanted to know everything there is about my camera and how to use it. I had a very small fashion blog at the time (when blogging was relatively new) and I began to take street style images of fashionable women in Sydney. I would then just take photos of buildings, people, events, everything that interested me. I was invited to events during fashion week and blogged my travels around the world.
To me this was so fun and enjoyable, I just kept improving my skills and techniques and researched as much as I could about photography. I would read every magazine and studied the images in them and who was the photographer who took them. It was an obsession.
Recall a time when you wanted to chuck it all in; what did you tell yourself when it got too hard?
I think there is always a time during my work when it’s all too much, most especially juggling owning a business with being a mum. Most people think that our industry is quite glamorous and easy, what people don’t see is the early morning and late nights on location without eating or drinking to get the job done. I recall a furniture shoot in the middle of Canberra winter for a prominent furniture designer, the location was in Googong Dam. The stylist Jane Goodall of Bijoux Home, had this ambitious concept of placing the furniture amongst the water as if they were floating. No one had accounted the depth of the water nor the freezing temperature, however I was so determined to get the “shot” that I had balanced the chairs on my head (neck deep in ice cold water) whilst ferrying them across the dam to their desired location then quickly swimming back to my camera! The water was excruciatingly freezing, I probably developed hypothermia on that shoot but all I was thinking about was “ I needed to deliver and impress my client”.
What was your biggest break?
There have been quite a few big breaks in my career as a photographer and they all happened organically. The first was a photography competition with Inside Out magazine and the brief was to style and photograph various rooms around your house. I genuinely love interiors and submitted numerous images of my house styled and photographed by me. I won the competition and received a designer appliance package worth thousands, more importantly my images were given a full page spread. The second and most important break would be photographing the stylish home of Skin and Thread founder Penelope Cohen in Melbourne, the interiors were created by Simone Haag and this shoot was published in Belle Magazine and everywhere else! The rest is history, I’ve been booked since.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
I have received such great advice from mentors throughout my life, but one of the ones that stuck with me is from Carla Coulson: “It doesn’t matter how good you are technically or how good your composition is. If no one knows who you are, what’s the point. If you want to be a working photographer, you need your work out there to be seen.” I’m a perfectionist at heart, it’s who I am, I have learnt to let go and just get my images out there. Another piece of advice I have received from my own husband who runs his own business. He tells me every day to not take rejection personally, keep your head down and keep learning and learning.
What is it about your industry that you love and what makes you want to pull your hair out?
I love the community and the friendships I have formed. The creative community consisting of designers, stylist, architects are the most wonderful group of people who see the world differently. I love working with the best Canberra has to offer, Paul Tilse and Vanessa Hawes of Paul Tilse Architects, Mark Brook and Dan Fitzpatrick of Mymymy Architecture, Steven and Lisa Certrek of Thursday Architecture, and Bridget McShane just to name a few.
What makes me pull my hair out is clients without a clue of what they want.
Tell us how you ‘stay in the know’, what media do you consume?
I consume every magazine out there, photography books, magazines and always attending art galleries , museums and events for inspiration.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
I’m absolutely living my dream. This isn’t really a job for me, it doesn’t feel like it because it’s so enjoyable. Hopefully doing the same thing.
Why should people follow in your footsteps?
My career hasn’t been straightforward and I love how it’s unfolded. I have learnt so much along the way and perhaps it’s contributed to how I interact with my clients and the way I do business. People should follow me if you want to live a creative life where no day is the same. My professional life is rewarding and meaningful through the relationships I have formed and the images I create. It is utterly exciting to be In a different location everyday, to be able to problem-solve and direct a team creatively—it is a job that is absolutely fulfilling.
However if you do follow me, expect to roll up your sleeves and do the work. Do the work and do it well.
What advice would you give your past self?
Always trust your instincts, heart and head. From the words of Henri Cartier-Bresson “It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart, and head”.
