Local photographer gets to live her dream of doing everything

Growing up, Meghan McCabe wanted to do everything, which made it difficult for her to choose a career path, until she found one that allowed her to do it all.

As a photographer, Meghan has experienced lying on her back with a motorbike driving right past her to take the perfect shot and watched as a rhino was dehorned to prevent poaching – her work has taken her to places as far as South America, Botswana, and even the Victoria Falls.

At 32, Meghan has seen and done more than most people get to do in a lifetime, however, she is not nearly done.

She stated that her best experiences would probably be shooting motorsport as that is where her career started, further, she will always remember getting to photograph the popular British TV motoring show Top Gear in Durban as well as the Red Bill X-Fighters and Nitro Circus.

The most memorable places she visited include Chile, where she explains she learned a lot about herself. One thing she learnt is she needs to have her own space, as the houses are built so close together in Chile and you practically live on top of each other, whereas here in South Africa there is more space.

She continues to say she was also there during Covid, she adds it was scary at first as she didn’t speak Spanish, however, her quarantine experience was ‘phenomenal’. She was in a four-star hotel, with four check-ins a day by doctors and nurses and four meals a day, further after 11 days of quarantine there was no bill as the government paid for everything.

Another experience she will always remember was working on a ship, where they went to six different countries in a month, including Madeira, the Canary Islands, and Cape Verde islands where she got to see Fogo, which has a volcano that erupted in 2014 and it ‘was insane to see how people are living around the volcanic ash’. After that, they went to Brazil where she experienced a place called Paraty, where people live on many little islands in a bay after which they visited Uruguay and stopped off in Argentina. Locally her favourite travels include Botswana and Zambia, however, she notes her best experience was Victoria Falls.

To any youngster, Meghan added that if they get the opportunity to travel, then do so, as ‘you learn a lot about the world and yourself’.

Despite having seen and experienced so many things, Meghan adds there are challenges to being a photographer, mainly the costs surrounding equipment and clients not always understanding what it costs to hire a photographer, however, different price ranges are depending on the type of photos required. Furthermore having to place oneself in difficult situations means a person loses their fear, they have to be brave to get that perfect shot, it also means working in any weather, rain or sunshine. A photographer also has to spend hours just to get the shots, not talking about editing, which takes up even more time

Despite these challenges, Meghan states, “It’s a very difficult industry to push through and make money from. But if you have the drive and the passion to do it, it will take you places. It has the prospect of letting you see the world and experience so many different things, but you have to work towards it. You have to be open to those opportunities.”

What happens next is wide open, she has no particular plans but is waiting to see where life will take her.