CATHERINE O'DONNELL

Among all the faces in frames, Catherine O'Donnell's portrait photography stands out for its relaxed style and classic lighting. She tells Keith Wilson about the wedding that changed her life and the big ball of light she takes on every shoot...

-  Keith Wilson

01 BEACH LIFE For this group portrait, the bright sun has backlit the family and grasses perfectly, but a very fast exposure was required.

Lens Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM

Exposure 1/4000 sec, f/2, ISO100  

HEARING Catherine O'Donnell talk about how she moved into photography after a successful career in magazine journalism, you can almost imagine her being described back then as "the accidental photographer". She prefers to use the word "serendipitous" when explaining the sequence of events that took her from editing an in-flight magazine for TUI ("Ironically, I'm quite scared of flying") to taking pictures at a friend's wedding in Menorca, which led to her first wedding photography commission. "I'd always taken pictures but I'd never ever considered it as something I could do as a career," she says when recalling that first paid shoot. Up until then, Catherine had used some of her photos as reference studies for paintings, but the success of that wedding made her re-evaluate her photography. And that's not all. While photographing the guests, there was something else - correction, someone else - she saw while looking through the viewfinder who was to have an even greater impact on her life and career. From that moment, Catherine's photography and personal life would become inseparable...

Was painting your first love in terms of artistic expression?