READING TIME: 2 min 30 sec
PUBLICATION DATE: 02/05/2024
UPDATED: 08/29/2024
We must begin where all good stories do—at the start. "I started in a high school darkroom," Agatha Rowland fondly recounts, tracing the origin of her love affair with photography to the dimly lit corners of her adolescent years. It was here, among the smell of developer and fixer, that her passion for capturing moments was sparked—a flame that would illuminate her path for years to come.
She carried this torch to Toronto, a city where dreams are as high as the CN Tower. "I photographed my first few weddings during this time. Since then, I moved to the UK and worked in the TV/film industry there but when I came back to Canada, I moved to Ottawa and fell into photography again very naturally, " she says, her words painting a picture of a budding artist stepping into the limelight of capturing love stories.
Fast forward a few chapters, and we see Agatha's style take shape like a photograph in a developing tray. "Cinematic, documentary, natural," she describes. These are the words she chooses, each one a cornerstone of her unique photographic vision—a vision that captures the raw, unscripted drama of real life, the quiet moments that might otherwise slip away unnoticed.
Her commitment to authenticity doesn't end there. When it comes to post-processing, she's a purist at heart. "I try to keep my editing true to the day, as I want each couple to see their photos like the memories of their day," Agatha insists. Every image she delivers is a testament to the moment it was captured, unaltered in its emotional truth.
Ah, but what drives a photographer like Agatha? It's a question that beckons a philosophical answer. She muses, "I don’t know if I’m like most people here, but the memories throughout my life don’t follow an easy-to-read timeline of events. Instead, things come in flashes. Life is fast and fragmented and feels fleeting in retrospect. For me, photography is a way of slowing down time — shedding more light on the ‘flashes’ and having time to pour over particular moments. To me, that's the draw."
Here lies the essence of her craft: a relentless pursuit to freeze time, to hold the fleeting moments so we may visit them again and again.
Working with Agatha is not just a transaction; it's an alliance built on the foundation of human connection. "My approach is to be genuine and kind and to treat each and every client with the same respect and hard work. This goes a long way in ensuring people are comfortable once they're in front of the lens," she states. In these words lies her promise, a covenant of sorts, to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary through the lens of her camera.
She tailors every experience, weaving hours and elements into a custom package. And for her clients? She is both guide and guardian, offering a "welcome guide to all my wedding clients to help prepare for their day," ensuring they navigate the waters of wedding planning with a trusted compass in hand.
Should love beckon her across the sea, she answers with an open heart. With a sparkle in her eyes, she recalls, "My favourite so far was a destination wedding in Wales," a place that's not just a pin on the map, but a part of her soul, intertwined with her narrative and steeped in the beauty of storytelling.
In these sections, through her words, we have painted a portrait of Agatha Rowland—Ottawa’s professional photographer whose essence lies not just in the images she captures but in the depths from which she draws her inspiration, a true chronicler of our times.
