Kathleen Hoare is a documentary wedding photographer based in Dubai, UAE
Tell us a bit about yourself, who are you and where are you from?
My name is Kathleen Hoare and I’m a wedding and celebration photographer. I’m originally from South Africa, but Dubai has been my home since 2010.
How did your photography journey begin?
My journey wasn’t a linear path. When I was 18, I picked up a photograph of my Mom and her sister when they were very young. I’d never seen my Mom like that, and the photograph had a profound impact on me. I knew then that photographs have value – they hold a moment in time in place forever. I started documenting my own life a few years later. I took a photography workshop in 2013 at Gulf Photo Plus in Dubai, bought my first camera in 2014 and decided to pursue photography full time in 2015. I took every learning experience I could get my hands on, and shot my first wedding in 2016.
What kind of photography do you practice and what kind of stories do you like to tell?
I’m happiest behind my camera when I’m documenting love. Sometimes that’s a wedding, other times that could be a family, or a “Big Moment” celebration, like an engagement or birthday. I’m a documentary photographer – I like to be a fly on the wall. I interact with my subjects when necessary, but for the most part, I’m 100% committed to documenting things as they unfold in their own way. I like to get up close, so you can almost feel what my subjects are feeling, and tell their story as honestly and authentically as possible.
What was your first professional camera? What do you currently shoot with?
I bought my first professional camera in 2014, it was the Fujifilm XT1, just after it had been released. I’ve upgraded my bodies periodically since then, and I now shoot with the FujiFilm XH2 and XT3, and a wide range of lenses depending on how I need to document a wedding story.
What’s a typical wedding shoot like?
Weddings are usually full on, they’re high energy, full of emotion and fun. What other photographers don’t realize about shooting weddings is that you have to be present and observant throughout an entire wedding, and sometimes that can be more than 10 hours of straight shooting. If you aren’t, you risk missing a moment, a memory that could be forgotten. I absolutely thrive in that environment, knowing that every photo I take will be a memory to be treasured for years to come.
What is your biggest source of inspiration and influence?
I’m inspired and influenced by other photographers, local and abroad. I love seeing how others might document something similar to what I’ve documented before, in the creativity in what you can create using a camera and the fearlessness that others have in being there for their clients.
I’m also inspired by love and love stories, and the cultural nuances that are unique to every single wedding I photograph. I could be documenting an Irish wedding one weekend, and an Iranian one the next. My clients each have their own unique story to tell, and it’s inspiring for me to see how uniquely they each showcase their story.
What is the biggest goal you hope to achieve with your work?
Every wedding I document, I always push myself just a tiny bit more than I did on the last one. I never want to become bored or complacent in my work. My ultimate goal would be to tell many more love stories as authentically and true as possible, while pushing my creative boundaries.
I’d love to be a photographer that can inspire others to think outside the box about how to use a camera, and how to document life’s moments in more imaginative ways.
Are you working on any projects currently?
I’m currently in the research phase of a personal project where I’ll be documenting couple’s in Dubai with unique love stories.
All images are copyright Kathleen Hoare, and are used here with permission.
