about us
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Michelle and Claire are long-time university friends who first teamed up in Southampton during the early 1990s. Their post-university years saw them living on opposite sides of the globe, but despite this they managed to regularly meet up and have seen many corners of the world together. As a result, they are well-oiled travel companions. |
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Michelle was born overseas (technically) on the Isle of Wight and grew up mainly in the South and South West of England, with the exception of spending some of her teenage years in Greece. This early experience abroad was where her passion for travel began and it has continued to grow ever since. From the days of her very first Brownie, Michelle never ventures anywhere without her trusted camera.
After leaving school, she acquired a degree in Maths and Actuarial Studies, which led her to enter the insurance world in the City of London. She worked as an insurance broker for a total of 12 years, joining a new start-up company and helping it grow into a successful and highly regarded niche insurance broker. Her time in the insurance industry involved a fair amount of travel, including a significant stint in San Francisco, where she single-handedly set up an overseas office, tackling the many challenges that came her way, while at the same time enjoying the opportunity to photograph some incredibly beautiful scenery. Upon returning to London, however, donning a suit day in, day out (not to mention commuting!) gradually lost its appeal and so one day Michelle – in a true Eureka moment – decided to walk away from the insurance world and pursue her true passion: photography.
Ever since, Michelle has been working as a freelance photographer, while equipping herself with a Diploma in Photography. She has participated in several overseas photography trips, which have included Yosemite National Park, the Taiga Forests of Finland, the Greek island of Syros and, more recently, a volunteer photography project in South Africa. Her true love is wildlife photography, as can be seen from the array of animal images on this site!
Michelle has seen most parts of the world and never seems to tire of exploring new places and experiencing new cultures. Setting up and working with clickety click has allowed her to combine her two great interests – photography and travel.
Michelle is a Canon devotee and like all keen photographers she has a good story to tell. Ask her why her favourite lens sounds like a salt mill when you meet her!
She has recently relocated to South Africa and is based in the lovely little coastal town of St Lucia.
MIchelle can be contacted at michelle@clicketyclick.eu or on +44 (0) 788 180 1378.
Claire hails from the tiny Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and is a compulsive nomad, having lived, worked and travelled all over the globe. The last decade and a half have seen her reside in the UK, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Ireland, Mexico and her native Luxembourg. These days - when she is not busy running tours throughout Africa - home is Christchurch on New Zealand's beautiful South Island.
Born to Luxembourgish/British parents, Claire is fully bilingual in both Luxembourgish and English and, like all "Bourgers", completely fluent in German and French. Her arsenal of languages also includes Dutch and a haphazard smattering of Spanish.
Claire left school wanting to become a musician and so she embarked upon a music degree. Admittedly she learnt more about life than Beethoven and so, once she had pocketed her degree, the reality of having to join the civilised world came as quite a shock. She therefore decided to put her languages to the test and arm herself with a Masters degree in translation, which has stood her in good stead ever since.
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Music remained a big passion but it was primarily as a freelance translator that she earned a living for the next ten years – until the frequent bouts of cabin fever threatened to unhinge her sanity and she decided to fulfil her true ambition, namely that of combining work with her love of travel. Claire is a great photography enthusiast and self-professed Nikon fan – ever since she received a much-treasured F-501 for her 13th birthday and learned the true meaning of “saving your pocket money” (remember those pre-digital days?!). Above all else, she loves landscape and portrait photography. Her travels have led her to some of the world’s most beautiful corners – and still her destination wish list keeps on growing! Claire can be contacted at claire@clicketyclick.eu or on +352 621 711 983. |
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Many thanks to photographer David Bostock (www.davidbostock.co.uk) for his images of The Big Cheeses
we work with...
THEO GINA
We are thrilled to be teaming up with Theo for our Namibian tours!
Theo is a fully qualified tour, field and cultural guide. He is our trusted driver and guide for our Namibian tours.
Theo is South African and hails from Nkundusi, a village in KwaZulu-Natal. He is currently based in St Lucia, from where he runs Theo Tours, a tour company specialising in authentic Zulu experiences and photographic game drives (www.theotours.co.za).
EMIL VON MALTITZ
We are also thrilled to be introducing Emil, who will be accompanying us on our South African tours!
Emil is a Durban-based professional nature stock and fine art photographer who has been involved in photography for the better part of the last two decades. After obtaining a Masters degree in Anthropology, Emil spent a brief stint working as a consultant before dedicating himself to photography full-time, setting up his own business – Lime Photo (www.limephoto.co.za).
Many thanks to Emil for allowing us to include some of his beautiful Drakensberg images on this site.
