Taking a look behind lens
PHOTOGRAPHER VERONICA SAGREDO IS NEVER SHORT OF WORK IN CAIRNS, WITH WORD-OF-MOUTH REFERRALS KEEPING HER BUSY, NECESSITATING A MOVE TO A LARGER STUDIO LATE LAST YEAR, WRITES ALICIA NALLY
AFTER EMIGRATING TO AUSTRALIA FROM CHILE AS A 16-YEAR-OLD, VERONICA SAGREDO COMPLETED A YEAR OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSES
THE magic of the dark room sparked a passion and seemingly unending creative well in a school age Veronica Sagredo that she has turned into a successful business model in regional Queensland.
After emigrating to Australia from Chile as a 16-year-old, Ms Sagredo underwent a year of English language classes before completing her senior high school education in Sydney.
Leaving their homeland at the height of General Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship, the Sagredo family accessed a family reunion scheme offered by the Australian Government and met up with an uncle who had fled South America as a political refugee years earlier.
Ms Sagredo’s parents kept her and her two siblings away from politics and although her dad, an electrician, loved to take photos of the family, the art was only a hobby.
“While I was in Year 12, I got a job at a (photo processing) lab part-time and the love just kept growing from there,” the 48-year-old owner of Blue Click Photography said.
“It was all film in those days so it was all so magical, especially doing dark room work.
“I have always been attracted to magazines, advertising and lifestyle weekend papers. I have a stack of glossy magazines that I love to look at – but only for the photos, I never read the words.
“While I studied photography in Sydney, the work in professional labs introduced me to the world of commercial photography.
“I used to look at the weekend papers and think I would love to be able to photograph the people who appeared on those pages.”
Ms Sagredo and her husband moved to Cairns two months after marrying – they wanted to settle somewhere tropical and the pair knew if they didn’t act fast, it would never happen.
Starting as a casual, then part-time photographer for the
Cairns Post, Ms Sagredo said she quickly started her own freelance business and the work began to pour in.
Late last year, Blue Click Photography moved to its biggest studio yet, in the Traveltown building on Lake St, just metres where Ms Sagredo started about a decade ago.
She said studio work was a rare offering in the Cairns photography industry and her new premises meant she could access natural light, staged settings and even unusual backdrops such as an elevator.
But, it was people who continued to inspire her work.
“There are a lot of photographers out there who don’t love working with people, but I’d rather do that than take pictures of houses,” Ms Sagredo, a mum to one son, said.
“I stick to what I love in photography and that’s people. Probably my favourite work are black and white portraits. I prefer that to getting the kids all dressed up for photos. It really captures the person.
“However, I do mostly commercial work and I don’t need to advertise, there is a lot of word-of-mouth referrals.
“I always try to interact with people when I’m taking a photo because it relaxes them and you get the best work.”
The growth in technology, however, has meant there are plenty more photographers in Cairns who can “make a buck with a camera”, but Ms Sagredo said the demand for properly trained professionals was still strong.
“It gets confusing a bit for people, but in the local market, businesses do seek out a professional, so that’s OK with me,” she said.
“One of my biggest achievements has been the fact I’ve been able to sustain a studio in Cairns for more than 10 years. One, you need clients, and two, commercial rent is expensive and you also need to cover equipment costs and insurance.
“I’ve also been able to work with big publications like Frankie, Reader’s Digest and Motorcycle Trader, which has been amazing.”
But, being a creative in business has not always been easy and Ms Sagredo said she hired a bookkeeper on a regular basis to keep her accounts in order.
“Being a good creative person doesn’t mean you’ll be a good business person,” she said.
“Learning to run a business has been challenging at times. I really struggle with that but I get by and that shows because I’m still here.”
THERE ARE A LOT OF PHOTOGRAPHERS OUT THERE WHO DON’T LOVE WORKING WITH PEOPLE, BUT I’D RATHER DO THAT THAN TAKE PICTURES OF HOUSES VERONICA SAGREDO