NZPhotographer Issue 20, June 2019

GETTING TO
KNOW MARINA
DE WIT
MARINA, YOU’RE A BIT OF A LOCAL
CELEBRITY BUT PLEASE REMIND PEOPLE WHO
YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU DO.
Goodness not sure what to say, thank you! I am a
Fine Art Flower Photographer from Auckland. We
immigrated to NZ from South Africa in 2005 and
I have been a photographer since 2015.
I work full time as Administration Manager and
travel between the North Shore and Pukekohe most
weekdays. I am a mom and wife and always on the
go, but I believe if something is meant to be you will
find a way and if not you will find an excuse.
My motto in life “Ask and you shall receive, seek
and you shall find”. Therefore, my weekends are
generally spent in and around various Auckland
gardens and I always try to spend at least 1 hour
editing and 1 hour doing “photography admin” in
the week.
HOW DID YOU GET INTO PHOTOGRAPHY
AND HOW HAVE YOU DEVELOPED YOUR
NICHE?
I firmly believe my photography was meant to
be… I discovered that I loved being outside taking
snapshots with my phone, this led to me purchasing
my first DSLR camera in 2015.
I’ve always had a creative streak but am a self
taught photographer having had no formal art or
photography training. I do use a variety of online
sources to educate myself though – Most of my
training has been done via Youtube, Creative Live,
Udemy and my favourite Photoshop go to guru;
Unmesh Dinda.
I’m inspired by the artworks of Claude Monet,
Vincent Van Gogh, and artists from the Dutch
golden age. The following photographers also
inspire me – Bas Meeuws, Gemmy Woudbinnendijk
and the floral photographer from Maine US,
Kathleen Clemmons. I recall watching Kathleen’s
Creative Live presentation where she became
pretty emotional describing her work and I knew at
that stage that that was what I was searching for as
an artist, that connection to my work.
The first couple of years I focused on spending as
much time learning and developing my style. Last
year was the first year where I ventured out into
the big wide world of printing my work and selling
at markets. This is the first year I will be officially
exhibiting my work and I am so excited to share my
work and see it hanging on gallery walls in NZ and
potentially all over the world.
HOW DO YOU PROMOTE YOUR WORK?
I love social media and take every opportunity
to tag my work on Instagram, NZP being a local
favourite! I also upload my work to local and
international sites to ensure I get as much exposure
as possible as no one will make things happen
for you, you have just got to get out there and
promote yourself and your work.
June 2019
27