about Melanie C

About Melanie C Fine Art Photography. Originally from the small town of Worcester, Western Cape, South Africa, Melanie developed a love for the outdoors and watched her creativity evolve. She attended the Hugo Naude Art School where she learned art as well as how to capture images and this is where her interest and passion for capturing images developed. Melanie is currently based in Cape Town, South Africa. She is a full-time fine art and commercial photographer and has found a peaceful balance between the two. Melanie loves helping others further their craft.

“Photography has become my addiction and nature is my drug of choice” – Melanie C

Childhood Passion for Photography

Melanie has always loved drawing, writing and creating art in different ways. Her fondest memories were created at the Hugo Naude Art School and will never forget her first photographic experience in art school, capturing those images with a coffee tin, painted black on the inside, pinhole photography. While everyone was capturing flowers and the obvious objects, she clearly remembers walking around capturing the shadows of a tree against the wall. Melanie has always wondered what it would be like to be able to blink and capture moments and images, as she perceived them, for others to see.

“If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life” – Marc Anthony

At the age of 16, she received her first film camera as a birthday gift and this encouraged her to work on her craft. She captured everything around her with the excitement of having the film developed and seeing the outcome. Sadly her camera was stolen and she had put her passion to rest for many years. In 2003 she bought a cellphone that has some crazy creative functions in the camera setting, a small blue Nokia 5310, she remembers, and it’s just there where the passion was reignited. In 2005 she had acquired another camera and spent many hours capturing everyday objects and giving them a creative twist, and the rest is history……. 

A Change in Direction

In 2015 due to unforeseen family circumstances, she had to resign from her career in Human Resources and Finances after 14 years in the corporate environment to take care of her mother who had a tragic accident. This was a blessing in disguise as this was the start of her full-time photography career. She has since completed studies in Photography, Business Management, and Social Media and Marketing. She takes time away from her full-time photography career to go into nature and create images in the most creative way possible.

 You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, and the people you have loved together. – Ansel Adams 

 Melanie also shares her creative knowledge with others through her tutoring programs and for Canon South Africa, and has established a very constructive and interactive online photography group, open to anyone who loves photography where she motivates and inspires others to develop and have fun with their craft. The group has been functioning since 2013 and have regular outings to help photographers grow and expose them to different genres.

I hope you will all enjoy my photographic journey with me as much as I will enjoy sharing it with you. 

Love and Light, Melanie C