meet jacqui
My name’s Jacqui and I’m a photographer.
Other than raising a family and being a partner in a farming business, photography has been my life’s work and my craft. My work is an extension of my life, not an addition to it. I’m a country girl in every aspect and am a fierce advocate for our agricultural industry and those who work in it, our incredible country and our way of life.
Now living in Robe - one of the most beautiful coastal locations on earth - I find new inspiration every day in my surroundings.
People, animals and agriculture - the things closest to my heart - are my favourite subjects to photograph. I hope you can see who I am as you look through it. This is not to say that I don’t stray abroad when I can. I’m unashamedly hooked on experiencing other cultures and capturing their way of life – but I’ll always return home, to where I belong.
I’ve never been a wordsmith and I really struggle to find words to describe myself - actually preferring my images to speak for me. I tell stories through my lens: Images allowing us to re-live moments in our lives and preserving them for future generations, as tangible evidence of how we lived and how we loved.
I don’t take snapshots, I record life - in it’s entirety. Every image tells a story and I invite you to experience them. I’d be honoured to help you, tell yours.
Please call Jacqui today on 0427 343 132 to find out how your family can be immortalised in print. If email is more your thing, you can send Jacqui an email here.
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A naked shearer and an international award. What the . . . . .?
The whole thing started out quite innocently really.
Just a regular day in the shearing shed, delivering smoko to the shearers and taking a few standard photographs of the boys in action.
Although, on this particular day, I got a little more than I bargained for when Telf (one of the shearing team), disappeared into the catching pen for his last sheep before smoko. I should've twigged there was some funny businesses going on when the other shearers started smirking but sure as heck wasn't prepared for to see him drag out his next ewe - completely starkers (bar for his moccasins)!
What was a girl to do? Well duh, I had a camera didn't I?
After he finished shearing the ewe, Telf popped her into the let-out pen, then nonchalantly reappeared fully clothed as if he did this kind of thing every day. While the rest of us were still picking ourselves up off the floor.
With Telf's permission, the (ONE) image which wasn't R rated, had a bit of a run on social media before being promptly forgotten about.
Until around January 2016 that is.
In early 2016, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) declared war on the Australian agricultural industry and, in particular Aussie wool and shearing.
Their visual ads, showing a nude model, made up to look like a victim of domestic violence, complete with a fake lamb made from polystyrene, along with the words 'Wool - The Naked Truth', started appearing on social media trying to discredit the wool industry.
Their choice to collectively and falsely accuse Aussie farmers of (across-the-board) mistreatment of sheep, well - it pretty much poked the bear. Enough was enough. The gloves were off. Along with a whole bunch of Aussie sheep producers who decided to post their shearing pics on social media, I decided to go a step further and call out PETA's fake and misleading ad, with a bit of good old fashioned Aussie humour. (Also to just stick it up 'em a bit).
In around ten minutes, I mocked up my own ad, showing Telf shearing a REAL sheep, along with the words 'Wool - The Naked Gun' (shearer), alongside PETA's nude model, their fake sheep, and their words, 'Wool - The Naked Truth'.
I posted it on Facebook, went to the pub and forgot all about it.
Next morning, there were hundred of notifications. My post had been shared and re-posted on social media so many times, I'd lost count. It had gone all around the world and the best thing was, 99% of the comments were all in support of the shearing industry and against PETA and their scare campaign.
Telf had officially gone viral.
Over the next couple of weeks, the post was shared over 6,000 times, with a reach of over 1 million and had over 600 comments! What a complete head spin!
The image, along with the story, had appeared in print in agricultural newspapers in every state of Australia (both print and digital forms) and also internationally, in Europe, the UK (the top daily news story online in The Metro Online) as well as online in the USA!
I had phone calls and interviews with journalists in the UK and Europe, as well as locally on radio. I even had a call from Sunrise but (I think) I was located a bit too far away for the city to send a crew. Typical. (Besides, if I didn't get to talk to Sam Armytage, it wasn't going to happen, 'cause she's a country girl and knows how this shiz works).
South Australia's farm paper, The Stock Journal, also ran the story, which as one of their correspondents, allowed me to enter a portfolio of published images in the Rural Media SA Awards in November 2016, which included 'The Naked Gun' and two others (below).
In some very esteemed company, I won the only category I entered: 'People'. Then if that wasn't enough to blow my mind, I also took out the 2016 Overall Winner of the Best Rural Photograph! In all of SA!!
One of the three images had to go on to represent South Australia in the national competition, at the Australian Council of Agricultural Journalists in February 2017. Wasn't a difficult choice - had to be 'The Naked Gun'.
My run of good luck continued, my entry taking out the 'People' section of the national competition - which then made me eligible for the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Awards in South Africa, sometime in April! South.Africa.
What an incredible honour to have one of my images representing my country.
To think a picture - taken skylarking around in a shearing shed - could have made it so far, was just a little overwhelming. And there is absolutely NO chance that I'd have any hope of winning an international award against the best in the world. Right? No chance. Nup. None. Nil. Nada.
Well, slap me down and call me Susan. In the early hours of 1st April, I got an early morning tweet to say that 'Naked Gun' had not only taken out the 'People' section at the International Awards in South Africa - it had also taken out the Overall Best Rural Photograph for 2017! The.Best.Overall. In.The.World.
The Naked Shearer was an instant hit, with the rural newspapers from around the world reporting on the interaction with PETA. Links to some of the articles are listed below:
Rural Weekly Article
Metro Online UK
ABC
STOCK JOURNAL
AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL OF AGRICULTURAL JOURNALISTS
SUNSHINE COAST DAILY
GLADSTONE OBSERVER
NEWSMAIL
COOLUM NEWS
WEEKLY TIMES
“A professional or “gun shearer”, typically removes a fleece, without badly cutting or marking the sheep, in two to three minutes, depending on the size and condition of the sheep, or less than two in elite competitive shearing”
