When I think back on what I was doing with my life when I was nine years old, it consisted mostly of Nintendo 64. I certainly wasn't doing anything as awesome as Regina Wyllie, who is such an accomplished wedding photographer that brides are now specifically requesting her as the second shooter with her dad, Kevin.
I spoke with Kevin Wyllie recently about his daughter's interest and accomplishments in photography. Regina first started shooting when she was just three, upgrading from her toy camera to a Canon G9 to shoot a mountain bike race alongside her dad.
After the bike race, Regina was hooked, even insisting on using her father's DSLRs in manual mode, reminding him of what she had heard him say time and again: "automatic means that the camera is making decisions instead of the photographer." By age seven, she was helping her father shoot the Mountain Bike World Cup, having moved up to the
Canon 7D and a
70-200mm lens. That same year, she came along with her dad on a trash the dress shoot, and one of her shots became the face of a ThinkTank advertising campaign and earned her dad a
Cotton Carrier ambassadorship.
But even before her photo was gracing advertisements, Regina was selling portraits, even beating her dad out, when a Senior Warrant Officer of the Scots Guards bought her portrait over one her father took. Nowadays, she's her father's second shooter for weddings, where she uses a
Fuji X-E1 and
X-T1 coupled with the
35mm f/1.4 and
18mm f/2 lenses. Her work is so good that brides have now begun to specifically request her presence. It sounds like Regina has quite the promising future. Check out more of her work in the gallery below and be sure to follow her on
Instagram!
Images used with permission of Kevin (and Regina) Wyllie.
[via Fuji Rumors]
The end is near.
That's fantastic! My 5 yr old now has someone to look up too! :)
That's awesome! Some awesome shots and she's a Fuji user! Good for her.
Apprenticeship- a great old school way to learn.
I'm taking one of my grandkids on my next session because of this article alone.
More proof that gear doesn't matter, its her unique point of view - she doesn't scare or intimidate children so she can get a unique perspective. Good for her.
This is wonderful, my 2 year old loves her wooden kaleidoscope camera and I'm so keen to see what see shoots when she can understand a proper camera. I wonder how this plays with the child labour laws and her fathers public liability insurance.
EXACTLY! Unwise! Unprofessional! Irresponsible! This is what happens when you don't think of your photography as a PROFESSION and take it seriously. I cannot even imagine bringing my child to shoot a wedding that a client has paid thousands of dollars for a Professional Photographer to document perhaps the happiest and most important day of their lives. Call Rob Dyrdek, this certainly qualifies for his show... "RIDICULOUSNESS!"
Is that part of your standup routine?...
Ahhhh... One liner snipes.
Jon, Kevin was named to the top 8 wedding photographers in Scotland in 2013 and British Vogue described him as "a visionary photographer." I think it's clear he takes his job very seriously, and he wouldn't take his daughter unless he was absolutely certain it was a wise idea.
The problem is, you are talking to somebody who has been doing this for 40 years, nearly half a century, not as a hobby, but as a business. To tell me Kevin was named one of the top eight photographers, means nothing to me, surely it is a great marketing ploy, unless there are only nine wedding photographers in Scotland, then not so much.
Awards are great for advertising purposes, but other than that, they really don't mean much. Every photographer has gaggles of people telling them how "Amazing!" they are, how "Wonderful!" their photos are, hell I even won a Nevada Press Association Award for a photo, I never even submitted. Someone else submitted it without my knowledge.
I placed that award in a worthy spot... a filing cabinet drawer.
Nine times out of ten awards are given by people who don't have a clue what a quality photograph is. I understand the game quite well.
Most photographers when they do a presentation of any kind are announced as, "Please welcome, so and so, one of the top photographers in Soandsoville, today so and so will present his Ethereal, Visionary Approach to photographing Gnat Gas."
What seasoned photographer has not had that experience? Most have! I have! Odds are... You have. It's Lip Gloss, that's all... Lip Gloss!
I guess you have to live as long as I have to recognize how little that all means.
There are always FANs who drip and drool over MOST photographers' works.
Most of us have them, so to tell me somebody was NAMED, the first thing I wonder is WHO did the naming? But I understand it really does not matter, somebody is always naming somebody. That sort of thing makes our thighs hum.
I ADDRESSED THE BUSINESS OF PHOTOGRAPHY and in BUSINESS, taking a photographer, a contracted vendor to a wedding is ENTIRELY UNWISE, regardless of who named whom what... just the liability concerns in REAL WORLD BUSINESS is risky for any vendor, even photographers.
I did not comment about anyone's skill or talent, nor did I comment about anyone's standing in their particular market, hell... I wasn't even talking about Kevin.
ANYONE who take a minor child to a wedding pretending to be a key part of the photography team for that wedding, has been lucky enough to not have anything go wrong at a wedding. The moment it does, they are going to learn to take the profession seriously. As I said, it's irresponsible!
(But, I've lived long enough to know the odds are, I don't have a clue and you do. BEST BET IN VEGAS!)
So, that's my dime's worth, no need to beat this mule any longer.
no comment.
What a little champ! Terrific images, too.
I cannot believe anyone can have a negative comment to make towards this amazing article. As a father and someone who spent 9 years working with youth development this is beyond amazing. I am pretty sure she is covered under the insurance policy.
Regardless how awesome is it that clients are booking her because she totally rocks!!!! So excited to see my son pick up a camera and learn the basic functions.