By Rebecca Greaves
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Rebecca Williams has a special talent for capturing farming scenes, but it鈥檚 the loyal working dog that she most loves to photograph.
She and her husband Guy farm Highland Station, a hill country sheep and beef breeding and finishing property inland from Matawai, Gisborne. When she鈥檚 not farming, Rebecca can be found roaming the hills, camera in hand.
鈥淕uy鈥檚 family bought Highland in 1990 as a summer safe block, and in 1997 we were able to take it over in our name. We were really lucky and thankful to get the opportunity. Guy鈥檚 family set us up and I have worked on the farm the whole way,鈥 she said.
Originally from Wales, Rebecca met her Kiwi farmer in Israel while they were both travelling. Rebecca wasn鈥檛 from a farm 鈥 she worked in an office in Cardiff in estate management 鈥 but had often spent her school holidays on farms.
Ready for an adventure, she moved to New Zealand and never left. She has come to love everything about the rural lifestyle, being able to ride horses and the dog work, as well as juggling raising their three children with farm tasks.
She鈥檇 always been interested in photography and it was when the children went off to boarding school that she pursued it more seriously, studying towards a diploma online through the Southern Institute of Technology.
鈥淭hat really spurred me on to have the confidence to go out and go to events and capture some images people were interested in.鈥
Always learning, Rebecca still attends workshops and participates in online photography challenges.
What she loved most, and wanted to get good at, was taking dog photos.
鈥淥ften farmers don鈥檛 think their dogs are worth taking photos of, yet they鈥檙e so proud of their dogs. I love the team photos.鈥
Capturing dog teams has become a pet passion project and every year Rebecca compiles and publishes her popular dog calendar, The Shepherd鈥檚 Team.
鈥淚 also enjoy landscapes, mobs moving, getting onto someone else鈥檚 place and seeing how they run things, capturing the essence.
鈥淚 like it when there鈥檚 action, something happening, in the yards or stock being moved, when everything is focused on the job, looking natural, not focused on the camera. It鈥檚 clich茅, but truly early morning light, you can鈥檛 beat it. It鈥檚 always worth the early start. And the early evening light, when everything has a glow.鈥
As well as attending events (plenty of bull sale and dog trial content on her Instagram account) Rebecca increasingly shoots for clients who ask her to come on farm and take photos, like breeders wanting catalogue photos.
Photography has been a good fit for Rebecca, as she鈥檚 able to fit shoots around farm work.
鈥淚t鈥檚 my 鈥榦ff farm鈥 thing. It鈥檚 a job but not really a job because I love it. I feel like I鈥檓 still learning, I learn something every time I go out, and I still enjoy taking photos at home to practice.鈥
As for the dogs, Rebecca said they are a tool, they do the work, but they鈥檙e a companion as well. 鈥淔armers love their dogs, even if they don鈥檛 admit it. I love the fact the dogs love the work. I find it fascinating that people have teams of dogs, I think that鈥檚 something quite special and unique to New Zealand.鈥
She loves the animals, but she equally loves the rural communities. 鈥淩ural people are great, aren鈥檛 they?鈥