Tizia May: Ringwood North wedding photographer wins Leader’s ‘Best Of’ poll

She’s been snapping weddings locally and overseas for more than 20 years, and now this Ringwood North photographer has been voted one of Victoria’s best.

A Ringwood North woman has credited her longevity as a in-demand wedding photographer to her caring personality and rapport with couples on one of the biggest days of their lives.

Tizia May has been named the joint winner of Leader’s poll to find the best wedding photographer in Victoria, following nominations and votes from readers.

She shared the honour with Mildura’s Sarah Hyland of SD Photography.

Ms May, 58, began her photography career after she saw a small job ad in a Leader newspaper and applied for a receptionist role at a local photography studio.

It evolved into assisting a photographer on wedding shoots, and eventually doing her own.

“Back then I was using film which was really interesting,” Ms May said.

“There was no post production and stuff which can take hours and hours these days.”

Ms May soon branched out on her own and has been capturing weddings for more than 20 years, along with doing portraits, corporate work and baby photography.

Such is her popularity, she’s even been invited by clients to capture weddings in Italy and Malaysia.

“It’s a full time job and I’m so lucky to be able to make a living out of photography, because so many people struggle these days,” she said.

“Ninety per cent of it is personality and the rapport you have with people, not just being technically good at it.

“It’s about entering people’s lives and becoming their friends, because you end up being so intimate with them at the end of the day.”

Ms May said she was glad to be busy again after two years of minimal work due to the Covid pandemic.

She kept herself busy in lockdown by taking portraits of people sitting on their front verandas, and turned it into a photobook which raised money for her sponsor children in Tanzania.

Ms May said she had no plans to slow down her photography work and would keep on doing so even when she’s “in a Zimmer frame” and she “can’t lift a camera any more”.

“I love capturing people, their expressions and personalities and seeing how happy they are when they see the finished photos,” she said.