In October 2024 Adele and Max Warner-Tate created a social media space on Instagram for women in seascape photography. A platform in which women who share the same passion for a specific genre of photography could join together, share their work and engage as a community with the overall aim of encouraging and supporting women in seascape photography. In this blog Adele tells us about how and why they started this initiative.
The Idea
We are coastal photographers and feel most at home on a beach or surrounded by rugged coastline. Being inspired by the sea & coast is what motivates us and encourages us to head out on a regular basis with the cameras. The initial idea for women in seascape photography originated in January 2024 shortly after we relocated to the Isle of Lewis. Our relocation to the island was twofold, an aspiration for an improved work life balance and also a desire of creating more time to focus on photography The island has a fantastic creative community and an unspoilt, award-winning coastline. Lewis & Harris captured our hearts and is such an inspiration to us in many ways, most of all our love of seascape photography.
We wanted to create a platform to share our love of the sea & coast. Quite naturally the Isle of Lewis lends itself to “Lets encourage women in seascape” Photography. Photography has provided us with many benefits from improved mental & physical health alongside the enthusiasm to appreciate the coast in all seasons and weather conditions. The coast is ever changing, high or low tide there is always something to photograph from intricate abstracts, long exposures, roaring waves and the stillness of a calm sea at sunset, that’s what makes seascape photography such a fantastic & interesting genre of photography to take part in and why we love to encourage others be involved.
What we do
Through Women in Seascape we encourage women on Instagram to share their photographs inspired by the sea and coast by tagging our account. We encourage a variety of creativity and welcome ICM, long exposures, abstract, ariel, astro and multiple exposure etc. Each day we select an image to share as our main feature and encourage the community to support the photographer’s work. We also spotlight many other images that have been shared with us to our stories to provide an encouraging platform recognising multiple female photographers on a daily basis.
Why this is important
Unfortunately women in the photography industry are still vastly underrepresented. Community groups showcasing the talent of female photographers is on the rise, there is a growing momentum that we are proud to be part of, the more women who become involved, find a passion for photography and support each other will only help to improve the balance. We have always been supportive of women in photography and have spoken on various podcasts and presented a webinar with SheClicks to encourage others. Raising the visibility of female photographers to showcase their incredible talent is something that we are passionate about and proud to be involved with. It is such an inspiration to us to view the diverse range of incredible talent that is shared with us and a fantastic opportunity to connect with other women from across the world who share the same passion.
We are proud to be supported by PermaJet with this fantastic initiative and feel honoured to have the opportunity to give something back to the community by hosting a monthly print challenge. Each month one image that has been featured on our Women In Seascape Photography page, an image that stands out, will be selected as our PermaJet Print of the Month. The image will be professionally printed by PermaJet on their outstanding quality paper and delivered directly. We believe this will further engage our community and inspire them to print their own work.
Women in Seascape’s ethos
Our ethos is paramount to the community, we believe in being open, creative, encouraging, appreciative and nurturing (Ocean). Our values are at the core of what we believe in, welcoming, inspiring, supportive and passionate (Wisp). By creating an environment that encompasses our values and ethos we aim to create an interactive & supportive community for women in seascape photography. Over the next few months we plan on holding a series of webinars where expert knowledge & advice will be shared on topics such as ‘printing your work’ and ‘creative seascape photography’.
We welcome you to join our community and encourage creativity in what is such a versatile genre of photography.
Adele & Max Warner-Tate (Women in Seascape Founders)
