From a law firm in Brisbane to shooting weddings across Europe and landing in the pages of Vanity Fair, Brontë McVeigh's path has been anything but conventional. We sat down with the Toowoomba photographer to talk burnout, motherhood, and the gentle art of capturing people at their most real.
Photography: Bronte McVeigh
FIRST THINGS FIRST, CAN YOU SHARE A LITTLE OF YOUR STORY?
I am a proud Toowoomba girl, having spent most of my childhood and high-schooling growing up here, and returned about 7 years ago after my husband (Jake) and I left our corporate jobs in Brisbane, in search of a slower, more gentle home base.
Jake and I have been together for almost 14 years, with our smiley little Freddie joining our family last year. Jake (and now Freddie) are my safe place, my heart, and my home. When the world gets noisy, Jake has always helped me find my quiet, while Freddie injects each day with so much fun, joy and playfulness (and a lot of chaos too).
Back in 2011, after school, I'd moved to Brisbane where I spent the next 6 years completing a degree in Law and Arts (majoring in Film and Television and Political Science) – a mixed bag of degrees I know! - then went on to work in a leading law firm.
I very much loved the challenge of law, but I have always had a very creative side and so even during my legal career, I always had a camera in hand photographing the travels Jake and I would go on. When it was intense at work (which was most of the time), photography always seemed to ground me and help fill my cup. It was always a very joyful, creative outlet for me and to be honest not once did I ever really contemplate that I could make a career out of it, until I was really forced into that next chapter.
After years working in some incredibly rewarding, but fast paced, emotionally challenging and intense environments, burnout took hold and had quite a severe impact on my physical health for most of my twenties after it triggered the return of chronic migraines and, eventually, almost daily seizures.
For close to six years, Jake and I did our best to manage my deteriorating health, but eventually it reached a point where I had to step away from my work completely so I could focus on treatment. It was during this time that I began to think that photography could become a larger part of my life and, without sounding corny, it was really diving into my photography work and building my business that I was finally able to heal both physically and mentally.
Photography helped pull me out of some very dark places, it gave me purpose and inspiration, and became almost a source of meditation for me. When I shot my first paid wedding almost 2 years ago, I don't think even I could have predicted the places and opportunities this incredible "job" has taken me. I'm so grateful for it all. In so many ways, I have never worked harder, but I've also never felt so aligned, fulfilled and happy.
HAVE YOU ALWAYS THOUGHT OF YOURSELF AS A CREATIVE PERSON, AND HOW HAS THAT RELATIONSHIP CHANGED NOW THAT 'CREATIVITY' HAS BECOME YOUR 'JOB'? HOW DO YOU 'KEEP-THE-FIRE' AND FILL YOUR CUP?
Ooft what a question. I have always had a very deeply embedded creative side – whether through drama, film, photography, design, fashion – I have always been drawn to different forms of creative expression. Even during my legal career, writing was the area I excelled at most.
Dad always had a video camera in hand when we were growing up, and our home videos are deeply treasured in our family, so I think I was always very connected with the idea of preserving memories. When I'm happy, sad, missing someone, or just when my mind is too busy for its own good (which is often), photographs have always had a way of grounding me. The idea that people entrust me to capture and preserve some of their most personal chapters, is a beautiful privilege and one that I am continuously pinching myself that I get to do.
Photography is one of the great joys of my life. When I am behind a lens, my usually very busy mind turns distinctly quiet, almost like a meditative state. I never feel more myself than I do when I have a camera in hand, and the fact that it is now my "job" still feels very surreal. I'm still not sure if I even mentally think of it as a 'job' as it stands in such a stark contrast to how I saw my career as a lawyer – to be honest, I didn't know a job could be so fulfilling and feel so aligned.
Other than the creative outlet, I love the thrill and challenge of building and running a business. Being able to carve out a space for myself in the industry, exactly how I wanted it to look and feel, is still something I find really exciting and I have met some of the most beautiful, kind, wonderfully supportive and generous people along the way.
What did surprise me is that even the pursuit of something you truly love, can lead to a similar path of burnout if you don't learn to set some very clear boundaries for yourself. This is new territory for me, and to be honest, one that I muddle up often as I find myself constantly caught between wanting to do it all, all at once, and the very real and humbling reality of having a body that doesn't always allow for that.
Having Freddie, however, has completely shifted how I look at and value my time, which really has been the greatest gift and has really helped to clarify my goals and truly made me realise that my time is incredibly valuable not just to me, but my little family. I want Freddie to see his Mum chasing her dreams but also taking care of herself and that means saying no a lot more than I'm used to.
I expect navigating that balance will be a lifelong journey but I'm incredibly grateful to have the biggest cheerleader in Jake. I have never once had to walk alone, because he's always been there either holding my hand, leading the way or cheering me on as I march ahead – he's the best person I've ever known and is very much the reason I can dream so big, while still being the kind of mum I want to be for my family.
I've been so lucky to connect with some incredibly generous, supportive and kind mentors over the years, and they have very much helped to guide and support me as I embarked on this new adventure. I was truly so blown away by the support of other photographers and vendors during my pregnancy and after having Freddie, the support and encouragement I received was truly something I never expected and has continued to inspire and comfort me.
YOUR WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY HAS TAKEN YOU ACROSS EUROPE AND INTO THE PAGES OF VANITY FAIR, THE LANE, THE ANTI-BRIDE AND THE WED. WHAT DO YOU THINK LIES AT THE HEART OF BEING ABLE TO SO BEAUTIFULLY CAPTURE THOSE EMOTIONS AND MOMENTS?
It's funny that for most of my life I have very much considered my gentleness and sensitivity to the world as my great weaknesses, but it really are those exact qualities that allow me to connect with people so deeply through my work. That, in itself, has been incredibly healing. I don't ever think that I am 'capturing weddings', it's really about capturing people.
I think navigating my own struggles with chronic illness and the significant mental toll that takes on a person, really instilled in me that there is so much going on beneath the surface (so much going on behind a photograph), so creating space where people can feel safe and seen, and cared for feels like a good way to move through the world.
My hope is always for someone to look at my images and think 'there's a lot of love in that photo' – because honestly there is. I love people. I think people are inherently good, and kind, and complex, and funny and wonderful and being able to capture people, what they create, how they live and interact with the world around them is so profound to me. I care deeply to know and connect with people and their stories, and I feel like I'm able to do that behind a lens.
If someone can look at one of my photographs, and be brought back to a memory, or feel just a little bit closer to themselves or those they love, I will have done my job. That's what photographs have always done for me.
BEYOND WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY, YOU'VE TRAVELLED TO SOME SPECTACULAR PLACES AND HAD SOME EXTRAORDINARY MOMENTS. CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT @WEKNOWAPLACE AND HOW HOW THAT ALL BEGAN?
Fashion and travel are key sources of inspiration for me, and while I do still take on some commercial work in these areas, I have intentionally carved out ways to preserve these areas as little pockets reserved purely just for joy and inspiration.
'We Know A Place' grew out of Jake and my love for adventures and travel and really was just a fun, creative outlet to pursue on the weekends between my 9-5 as a lawyer. After posting some photos on my personal Instagram, I began to be approached by more and more boutique stays and hotels wanting us to visit and photograph our stay, and it really just grew very organically from there. It's always been a joy project for us both (with some seriously good perks) and I have intentionally tried to not turn it into a proper "business" to keep it fun, creative and light. Despite our previous careers in Engineering and Law, Jake and I both love creating through film and photography, so it's been an absolute adventure to do together and one that we have a lot of fun with. It's taken us to some amazing places and been so much fun to do together.
We were fortunate enough to be invited to stay at an iglu hotel in the Swiss alps a few years ago – gosh even saying that sounds wild. I remember Jake and I arriving to find that they had completely cleared out the entire ice village and après bar for us to photograph, and I remember Jake and I turning to each other with an Aperol spritz in hand, looking at the Matterhorn, thinking how in the world are we here right now? That afternoon was still one of the best 'pinch me moments' we've ever had (albeit one of the coldest).
IF YOU COULD SIT DOWN WITH YOUR YOUNGER SELF, WHAT WOULD YOU TELL HER?
Ooft another good question and one that my Mum asked me just today. I think my sequin-covered younger self would be utterly amazed and proud at the life she has built. I would however tell her to slow down a bit (she wouldn't listen anyway). I would tell her that your health is your most important asset and should be protected at all costs – even if it means disappointing people – and that your greatest success and happiness will come from leaning into your gentleness, your sensitivity, your creativity. I would tell her you can be kind, and gentle, and sensitive and none of those are weaknesses.
Be bold, be brave, be kind, and surround yourself with people who make your heart happy. That's a good life.
WHAT DOES THE NEXT CHAPTER LOOK LIKE?
The next chapter is an exciting one for me as I continue to build my wedding photography business, while returning to work in the fashion and editorial space. Next month I head to New York Fashion Week and I really don't think I ever would have thought about booking a ticket, if Jake wasn't the one insisting I go.
Personally, Jake and I have just purchased what we hope to be our forever home in Toowoomba so when we're not chasing after
Freddie or travelling, you'll likely find us muddling our way through a big renovation.
Toowoomba is very much my calm in an otherwise wildly, beautifully, adventure-filled life. Our families are here, and so is our extended 'village', so it will always feel like home to us - our space to retreat and recentre.
[I probably didn't fully appreciate what it meant to "need a village" like I do now, because the village isn't just there to look after the little ones, you need kind, gentle, and supportive people around you, as you navigate how to walk through the world again as a parent. Jake and I are still muddling through it together, but my gosh it's been a joyful little ride so far.]
New York Fashion Week will mark the beginning of this next chapter for me, and it's one I am incredibly excited to sink my creative teeth into.
AND FINALLY, A FEW FAVOURITES:
HOMETOWN FAVE: Press'd has become our local for early morning coffees, and late afternoon wines. Not to mention their DIVINE toasted chilli-cheese sandwiches (IYKYK)
PLACE YOU PHOTOGRAPHED: Lapland, Finland. An actual winter dreamscape and one of the most incredible trips we've ever done.
WAY TO SPEND A SUNDAY: Coffee in bed with Jake and Freddie. A slow walk around Queens Park followed by breakfast at Burrow Café leading into afternoon wines at Press'd or maybe even a drive out to The Dairy Café for some baked goods and a 'Pi-Lattes' session with VFIT.
A PHOTOGRAPHER, ARTIST OR CREATIVE YOU LOVE: Australian Artist and Documentary Photographer, Liz Sunshine is a constant source of inspiration for me. As are the powerhouse women leading Creative Mornings in Toowoomba and the incredible Morgan Journal.
SOMETHING YOU'RE READING, LISTENING TO OR WATCHING RIGHT NOW: All new mums will understand – but I am now a proud member of the ACOTAR fan club, and yes, please stop me on the street to talk about it.
@brontemcveigh | @brontemcveighstudio | @_weknowaplace | brontemcveigh.com.au
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