About Leonie Roberts

All About me!

My children roll their eyes when they see a sunset or a pretty view.

They know they’ll be waiting an hour (or more) while I take photos and oooh! and aaahh! at the reds and golds and pinks in the sky, or a stray sunbeam streaking through a cloud.

As far as I remember, I’ve always had a camera. (Pic of me aged about 8).

I probably took mostly pictures of horses, I should think. Yep, I was horse-obsessed. Pictures of ponies everywhere,

My older brother was a photographer with his own darkroom. I wasn’t allowed in to watch him work, so it all seemed a bit like magic.

Home life in south east London was always a bit up and down. My other brother has schizophrenia, so it wasn’t a standard upbringing.

My siblings are a good bit older than me and left home when I was young. I was a child carer to my brother and my dad, and I was always a bit of a loner anyway, so me and my camera were best buddies.

I went away to boarding school for a couple of years and did Art ‘A’ level and found out about impressionism.

Then at university in west Wales I had lots of lovely wall space, and filled it with posters of the paintings of Monet, Cezanne, Sisley and Pissarro.

And that was it really.

It’s all about light

Shifting light. Shadows. Impressions of a moment in time. Heat haze, fuzziness rather than perfect detail.

You’ll see a lot of that in my photography.

I started my photography business in 2011 in North Bay in northern Ontario, Canada. It’s a stunning region filled with lakes and wilderness – what Ontarians call ‘the boonies’ (= the middle of nowhere).

I photographed horse shows and the local OHL ice hockey team and jousting events and rodeos and school graduations and … You get the gist.

With so many stunning lakes to visit, we spent a lot of time camping. Not wild camping (too many bears), but there’s lots of quiet space.

The quality of light at sunrise and sunset, with the raw rays reflected in still water, and the contrast of dark conifers and bright sky, are breathtaking.

There are a few images in my gallery from back then.

We came back to Wales a couple of years later, and that’s where I am now.

What’s important to me apart from photography?

I’m a single mum to four amazing young adults.

One is a dentist on the west coast of Cornwall. Couldn’t be better for a photographer looking for beautiful landscapes and sunsets, really.

Another is a registered manager of a mental health care home in south Wales. Her Rottweiler dog, Bailey, joins us quite often to explore.

The other two are students, also on the dentistry theme. And no, I’m not really sure where that came from.

I live in beautiful Monmouthshire.

I’m a Chartered PR practitioner, and work full time in stakeholder communications and reputation management, mainly for public sector and third sector organisations.

I basically make sure the communications are right, so that people who need support know where to get it from.

It can be quite a stressful job, especially when someone who knows nothing about an organisation gets a bee in their bonnet about something they don’t understand.

Crisis communications, and planning for crises, is a big part of my day-to-day.

My photography is my down time, my reminder that the crises aren’t my crises.

I don’t do much event or portrait photography any more. I’ve done a couple of weddings, and I occasionally freelance for event photographers I know at horse shows, but I spend enough time with people. Landscape photography gives me the space and freedom I need.

Spending time on a beach, or by a lake with a mountainside spread out before me, is my pleasure, my recovery and relaxation.

It helps me remember that every moment is precious.

Dreamy landscape prints for your wall

Enjoy every moment – that’s my mantra.

You never know when that moment will come which will change everything, so make the most of now.

It translates well into my landscape photography.

That moment that you see in my photos? It was amazing.

It was beautiful, and I want you to share it with me.

If you’ve holidayed in Wales, you’ve probably fallen in love with the wide open views, the stunning light, the beautiful coast line, the gentle swish of waves on a beach.

Hopefully, you’ll find a reminder of that memory in my gallery.

Hang it on your wall, and remember that moment every day when you glance at it.

Check out my gallery here.

Here’s to enjoying every moment