Six years ago Renae Flett combined her love of farming with her love of photography to create her photography business Renae Flett Agri and Events Photography.
Her photos feature in farming magazines and agricultural marketing campaigns, and she has shot several weddings, maternity shoots and everything in between.
“I love to take photos of anything farming. I love farming. It’s my passion just like photography, so being able to combine the two makes me pretty lucky, (and) it’s all grown pretty organically,” she says.
Renae says her business essentially took off without her even realising.
Her love of taking photos of everything has grown into a small, side business that is now able to help her reach her next goal in her farming career – 50:50 sharemilking.
Learning the tricks and tools of her trade through trial, error and time on tools, she has purchased and upgraded equipment as finances allow.
Like many businesses, social media has been the place where Renae has grown a following for her work.
She says that her social media pages have been great for gaining photography jobs, but her primary goal is to share the beautiful side of farming with the public.
“I love being able to show the world the positive and beautiful side of farming, the care farmers put into their stock, land and environment,” she says.
“Using an image to tell a story and put smiles on people’s faces is what I love.
“If my photos help to give even just one person a different perspective on our industry, then I’m happy.”
Fitting in photography jobs has become a fine art for Renae, who along with the farm is also juggling study. Although, she quickly realised she had to be realistic about the time she could invest in it.
“Calving is the main time I don’t take on photography work unless I can capture that image on my own farm,” she explained.
“It’s just too busy to go off the farm for jobs. Other times of the year though, I do enjoy being able to get off-farm; it helps keep my mind fresh and focused having that mental break.”
Over the years, Renae’s eye for a good photo has been well-trained.
While she enjoys the days she gets to wear her photographer’s hat, she doesn’t have plans on growing the business for a while. Instead, she has her eyes firmly set on advancing her dairying career, something the photography business is helping her do.
Although not a huge income, every little bit helps to reach her goal of buying a herd and going 50:50 sharemilking. It also provides a good back up income and can support her farming business should it go through some financial hardships.
“I want to keep growing the social media side and keep the followers growing so I can keep sharing images and spread the positive side to the hard work our farmers are doing,” she says. “Doing that helps keep jobs trickling in, and it provides me with a creative outlet for when things are getting full-on on the farm. It’s a bit of a break, I guess.”
Renae says she can pinpoint the exact moment she fell in love with dairying.
A weekend milking cows with a friend was all it took to get her hooked. She’s been in the industry for 12 years now and says it’s the best decision she’s ever made.
“I grew up in town, so I’ve very much had to work my way up the ladder. I’ve had some wonderful opportunities to work on different farms and gain experience in different systems and areas,” she says.
Two-years into her dairying career Renae took up a job working with racehorses. But the pull of the dairy farm was too much, and she was quickly back in her red bands and in the milking shed.
Renae Flett’s photography work is helping her work her way towards her farming goals by creating extra income.
“I’m so excited to own my own small herd. I’m aiming for a herd size of up to 230 cows and to keep building the business side of the operation,” she says.
“I’d like to eventually lease a farm or own a small dairy unit, that’s the long term goal.”
When not wielding a camera or out on the farm, Renae can be found indulging her other love in life – horse riding.
She competes with her horse as regularly as she can and has a small team of cows and youngstock, which she shows as well.
“I think when you’re looking to start any side business, you need to do your research and think about if you can realistically fit it in with your day to day job without putting yourself under too much pressure,” she says.
“It has to be something you enjoy.”
