23/07/2026
Twenty years.
20 years ago, on the 20th of May 2006, a friend gave me the opportunity to photograph alongside her photographer at her wedding. I was fresh out of high school with a passion for photography and a dream of building a career with a camera in my hand. Determined never to go back to school, I spent countless hours teaching myself photography online and grabbed every opportunity I could.
That first wedding confirmed it for me, I knew this was exactly what I wanted to do. The second wedding I photographed was completely on my own. I pretty much winged the whole thing and somehow pulled it off! 😄
Knowing it would take time to build a business, I worked full-time as a graphic design assistant while my husband and I found our feet and he studied at uni. Then in 2008, what felt like a setback became one of life’s biggest blessings. I was made redundant, and it gave my photography business the chance to become everything I’d hoped it could be.
By 2012 I was photographing 20–30 weddings a year, welcoming our first child, and running a studio in the centre of Geelong. I never wanted to be the photographer shooting the most weddings, I simply wanted a career I loved that could grow alongside my family. That’s exactly what it became.
Over the past 20 years I’ve had the privilege of capturing hundreds of weddings, meeting incredible people, and making friendships I’ll always treasure. It has been a career that blessed my family in more ways than I could have imagined.
On the 27th of April this year, I photographed my final wedding. After living with chronic fatigue for the past couple of years and navigating the unpredictability that comes with it, I made the difficult decision to retire from wedding photography.
It’s bittersweet to close this chapter, but I do so with a heart full of gratitude. Thank you to every couple who trusted me to capture one of the most important days of your lives, and to everyone who supported my business over the years. It has truly been an honor.
Alongside my other little biz stonesandastory I’ll still have my camera in hand but no more weddings for Stephlee Photography 💕
