Hello my dear guest and welcome to my website.

I am Irina Santos, a Perth based photographer who currently specialises in Lifestyle photography. This wasn’t always the case as previous versions of myself included being a bespoke bag manufacturer, a chemical engineer in one of the biggest mining companies in the world and even being an entrepreneur running my own cleaning business. 

My passion for understanding “how things work” began just after I gave birth to my daughter,  I was on maternity leave and to keep myself entertained between parenting duties I decided to buy a 103 year old Singer sewing machine. I began pulling apart some old leather bags to see how they were constructed and put together. I was fascinated and learned a lot about the process and it wasn’t long before I started making my own creations from everything that I had learned. In just 2 short years, I had amassed 3 industrial sewing machines, piles of leather and had long lines of customers queuing up for my bags! I started my first instagram account where I showcased my bags. This is where my love of taking photos began, it wasn’t long before I was hooked and applying the same love of learning to my photography. I was always learning and looking for ways to better showcase my designs.

With the prospect of new love on the horizon, I made the huge decision to leave Russia and immigrate to Australia to start my new life from scratch. The relationship didn’t last, but thankfully I still had my daughter, my new friends and the beautiful Australian surroundings providing the inspiration and energy to keep going when things were tough.  

In 2019 I bought my first professional camera, it was my beloved Fuji XT3. I had no intention of becoming a professional photographer, I was simply travelling as much as I could in my free time to soak in all the beauty that Australia has to offer. I used my new camera to mainly shoot landscapes, nature, animals and of course my daughter as I wanted a record for her to look back on when she grew up. 

It wasn’t long before I began to notice that the more photos I took, the more I was able to clearly express my vision with each and every use of my camera.  To my surprise others began to notice too and people started offering me money for my “hobby”. That’s where it all began.

I was hooked and was spending all my free time being like a sponge, learning as much as I could about this incredible art form (I am still learning and love that I will be able to continue learning for the rest of my life!).

Yours sincerely, 

Irina