Meet Nami from Nami Creative | Raglan Portrait Photographer & Workshop Co-Host

If you've been hanging around here for a while, you've definitely heard me mention Nami. Probably more times than you can count. She's my workshop co-host, my business partner and honestly one of my favourite people on the planet. So I figured it was about time I properly introduced you. Grab a matcha, because I have a lot of nice things to say.

Who Is Nami?

Nami is the founder of Nami Creative Education, and she's a women's portrait photographer based right here in Raglan, New Zealand. She's been behind the camera for over 20 years. In that time she's photographed more than 1,000 women. And not models, real women. Mums, business owners, creatives, women who walk in saying "I'm so awkward in photos." She's shot for big brands, had her work published in magazines, and been featured by Canon, Good Magazine, OhBaby and the Raglan Chronicle. Over 500 photographers have learned how to pose their clients through her Ultimate Posing Course. You know that moment when someone tells you to "just relax" in front of a camera, and it somehow makes it ten times worse? Nami has built her whole career around making that moment disappear.

She Knows Both Sides of the Camera

Okay, this is the bit most people don't know about her. Nami used to model. So she's been on the other side of the lens. She knows the nerves, the awkwardness, the "wait… what do I actually do with my hands?" feeling. And because she's been there, she doesn't just sit back and hope you'll relax. She genuinely sees it as her responsibility to make you feel safe. She talks you through every single pose. She checks in with you. She never, ever leaves you standing there in awkward silence. Also, can we talk about how funny she is? Because she's hilarious. Like, properly funny. You'll be laughing before you've even noticed the camera's out.

Why I Chose to Work With Her

So here's what I find really interesting about us. As a surf photographer, my job is mostly to capture what is. I can’t control the waves, the current, how the surfer decides to surf the wave. I'm either in the right spot or I'm not. Nami is the total opposite. She's a creative director at heart. She sees the image in her head before it even exists (the location, the light, the styling, the mood) and then she builds it from scratch. Two completely different ways of seeing. And that's exactly why we work so well together. At our in-person photography workshops, Nami teaches posing, directing real women and creative direction. Then I take everyone into the water and teach surf and ocean photography. My favourite part? Watching a woman show up totally convinced she's going to be awkward, and then walk away directing a shoot like she's been doing it for years. I call it the Nami effect.

Her Our Core Values Line Up

We might not shoot the same things, but we definitely stand for the same things. We both took our love of photography and built a business around it. Our own brands, done our own way. We both have that can-do mindset too. I swear nothing is impossible for Nami. Pitch her a slightly wild idea and she's already asking how, never if. And we both genuinely believe in abundance. There's room for all of us. Another woman winning doesn't take a single thing away from you. That's why there's no gatekeeping at our workshops. We share everything we know, the good stuff included.

Why I Love Collaborating With Other Women

When I first started surf photography, there were no other women teaching it. None. So I figured it all out on my own and I made a lot of mistakes. That's probably why collaboration means so much to me now. Doing it alone is possible. But doing it together is just so much better. Nami brings things I don't have, and I bring things she doesn't have. And the women who learn with us get the best of both. Because when women stop competing and start backing each other, everyone grows. That's what we're building here.

Follow Nami's Work

If you want to see more of Nami's beautiful portrait work, click here. (Trust me, you'll want to) And if you're a photographer who freezes up when it's time to pose a client, start with her Ultimate Posing Course. Should be really helpful.

Oh, and if you want to learn from both of us, in person, with your camera in your hands? Keep an eye out for our next photography workshop here. Come for the photography. Stay for the laughs, the ocean and a whole group of women cheering you on.

xo Leo