Humans of Umina: Gary Brown

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As part of my new series to highlight what an amazing group of people we have in Umina, here’s our first HUMAN of Umina – Gary Brown.

Umina resident since: 2015
Occupation: Photographer/teacher
Favourite reads:

- Sci-fi (Arthur C Clark, Asimov, HG Wells)
- Personal development
- Creativity and writing

Originally from: Born UK, left aged 2 then Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia

Tell us a little about what you did before moving to Umina?

I worked in a variety of fields in sales/marketing; loved start-ups and NGOs! I had to leave the world of business after becoming unwell. I then decided to take up photography as a kind of rehab and discovered I loved it (and had some talent).
I decided to combine my love of photography with my business experience and I’ve now been a professional freelance photographer for 15 years.

Why do you love living in Umina?

I love Umina because it allows me just to be myself:100% creative, extrovert, people person, talkative – very, very talkative! The people in Umina (unlike Sydney) don’t seem to care about the superficial; rather they embrace the quirky and normies at the same time. Also, it seems to be a home for uber-creative people, and I love that!

What do you think would improve Umina?

Educational opportunities. I suspect that more focus on education and funding would see Umina continue to be home to creatives, business owners, trade companies and so much more. I think it only believes it’s a vacation centre, but I keep meeting great business minds.

Thanks, Gary, for being our first-ever human of Umina; we love seeing you in store and feeling the energy and joy you bring! Deadset legend.

Where to find Gary:

Follow Gary on Instagram at @Garyddbrown.
Note: Gary is planning on running some iPhone photography workshops for kids in the Christmas school holidays; if you’d like to learn more, please sign up for our newsletter.