Meet Lesley Whyte | Founder of Women in Photography

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lesley Whyte and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lesley, what is the most important factor behind your success?
Women in Photography is led by women for women and is believed to be the only global provider of photography tours and retreats dedicated to enthusiasts, hobbyists, beginners and intermediate level photographers. Created by multi-award myself, winning New Zealand photographer our retreats and tours are led by an enthusiastic team of Women in Photography mentors who have been chosen as they share Women in Photography’s philosophy of mentoring and growing “YOUR photography passion.”

All our retreats and tours are fully inclusive of breakfast, lunch and dinner, we even provide a selection of wines along with transport from / back to point of departure – we even provide each person a bag of sweets to nibble on to help keep their energy up.

The retreats and tours are also incredibly fun and social plus extremely interactive with Lightroom, Photoshop & printing sessions.

On our retreats we are up early and head to bed late – we are out exploring the landscape so our photography buddies come away with some awesome images and head home with 4 of their favourite professionally printed on fine art photographic paper!

We also spend time on creative editing and post-processing techniques with our photo sharing sessions. Chatting over a glass of wine your dinner we’ll likely be exchanging composition ideas.

Throughout the day, there are lots of 1:1 time so you can nail those essential camera skills – we will help you get off auto. Our mentors are easy-going (they remember what it’s like to be starting out with their camera), they offer advice, guidance and support throughout. Those who are more confident and experienced, yes of course, we’d love your company and you can use the weekend for your own photography enjoyment.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
In 2021, Lesley was a finalist in New Zealand Women on Influence Awards – Arts & Culture category for where she’s taken the philosophy Women in Photography which included the philosophy of supporting both women & suppliers. Across our supply chain, 95% are female owned & led.

Women in Photography is led by women for women and is believed to be the only global provider of photography tours and retreats dedicated to enthusiasts, hobbyists, beginners and intermediate level photographers. Created by myself, multi-award winning New Zealand photographer our retreats and tours are led by an enthusiastic team of Women in Photography mentors who have been chosen as they share Women in Photography’s philosophy of mentoring and growing “YOUR photography passion.”

Women in Photography takes you to locations which you don’t yet know are on a “Photographer’s Bucket List” – our locations are remote & blimmen stunningly photographic scenic. Many of our retreats, we have no cellphone coverage so we have to be immersed in the surrounding beauty!!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We have 4 annual photography retreats in NZ & Australian which you won’t likely have heard of:

Central North Island Photography Retreat – Blue Duck Station
Marlborough Sounds Photography Retreat – Arapawa Island
South Island Photography Retreat – Lake Ohau Station
Australia’s Sydney – VIVID Light Festival

All of our retreats, our hosts cook for us, honesty you’ll need to loosen your pants a little at the end. You’ve got fully cooked breakfast, lunches and the most tummy filling two-course dinners. We provide bubbles & wine each evening along with cheese platter.

Each of these locations takes time to get there with Blue Duck Station & Lake Ohau Station on unsealed road for over an hour, while Arapawa Island is an hours water taxi.

On our retreats, we are fully immersed in the beauty of the surroundings, some locations have trees which are over 800 years old.

Our annual VIVID Light Festival (the largest light festival in the world) concentrates on photographing the night light festival – we are the only organisation providing photography tours to VIVID.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The photography mentors who co-lead photography retreats: Leanne Silver, Raewyn Smith, Stephanie Johnson & Meghan Maloney

Website: https://womeninphotography.co/

Instagram: @womeninphotographyglobal

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesleywhyte/

Facebook: @womeninphotographyglobal