We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Angie Wendricks a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Angie , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Practice practice then more practice. The desire to learn and do the best drives me . When I am out taking a photo I am so inspired by what I see especially when photographing nature. At the same time there is also a calm and a peace about it .
I am
always learning new things with my camera, editing and now video and film. I love to create short videos with my camera something I work on lately quite a bit. I feel you can never stop learning or trying new things.

Angie , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Angie Wendricks and I am a photographer and stylist . I also love to garden and am a small flower farmer out here on our 7 acres of countryside. I guess you could say I kinda “stumbled “ upon my art and job. I started my journey of photography with documenting the build of our house on Instagram. I had no former schooling or training with photography. I jumped in with both feet. I can’t describe it other than a total and complete drive and desire to learn .. Once I started I could t stop. I found myself being sent products from companies to show in my house which eventually les me from using a iphone for the photos to buying a nice Canon camera and submerging myself in it until I felt I mastered it. I am my own worst critic so I constantly have the drive to learn more , do more and put my best work out there . I have not been a person known for patience if I can be totally honest, but photography has taught me so much about that. I especially love to photograph ( along with interiors , my first passion, wildlife, flowers , my cats and just nature in general. You can’t be impatient when photographing animals , insects or birds – the beauty of it is all
the things you see and learn along the way. There is so much beauty in the ordinary every day things I feel is overlooked in our busy world. I don’t want to ever take any of it for granted. I want people to know that there is a great passion behind every photo I take. A great respect and appreciation for it . The smallest of things , whether it’s a lady bug on a petal or a high priced product collaboration on social media there is great care behind it. I want to always do my best. I would say I am most proud of that I stuck with who I am . My mom has always said to me ever since I can remember to stay true to myself. I remember when I was younger not really understanding that fully but now it’s very clear. With social media and the world we live in being this fast paced machine , I feel I am still who I am . I’m a simple person. I like simple things. I love to laugh and have fun and done take things too seriously. I am somewhat of a loner and am
fine with my own company. I enjoy the smallest things in life. I have not let social media take me down a path that wasn’t me . I feel I have fought the pressure to do things and go down a path i knew wasn’t for me. At the end of the day I love taking the photos and if it brings someone joy for a brief moment then it’s all worth it .

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I first started my photography journey it was on an old iphone. I started documenting the build of our house on Instagram. I found I really loved the styling and photographing the nature around us along with interiors. As my Instagram grew so did the job offers to send me products to show and photograph in my house. I remember the day it got real and changed for me ..I was sent an email by a company asking for high resolution images . I thought to myself what do I do now I’m using my phone for all these images and most people thought I was using a camera. I thought I have to do something and up my game. I remember the feeling buying my first camera , I felt so overwhelmed that I let it sit in the closet. I had no idea what I was doing. Then one day I thought I’m goin to pick it up and learn it and conquer my fear . Now I can’t imagine a day without my camera , it’s part of who I am and it’s taught me so much about myself , it’s taught me patience and also brought me joy I have never felt before. It is truly my happy place

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My goal is always to be better than I was yesterday. I never thought I’d get to the point where I am today. But it took a lot of practice hard work and determination. I learn best on my own , so I am constantly practicing and working with my camera and trying new things and techniques. I have also taken up film photography recently, even though that might seem like taking a step backwards it has taught me even more about photography.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.angiewendricks.com
• Instagram: countyroadliving
• Facebook: Angie Wendricks / County Road Living

Image Credits

Angie Wendricks photography