On The Couch with Bonnie Cee

Bonnie is a talented fashion photographer, turned cinematographer. In between her hectic work schedule, she’s also managed to develop a hugely successful filter app, Colourtone. We caught up with Bonnie to find out how she got started in photography and what made her take the plunge into filmmaking. 

It was in 2009 that Bonnie discovered photography. Originally aspiring to be a filmmaker, this dream was cut short when she didn’t get into film school. Bonnie’s first trip overseas was with her best friend. They stayed with her friend’s boyfriend for a bit who was into photography. It was only then that she held a camera for the first time. For the rest of her trip around Europe, Bonnie kept wishing she could take photos to capture the beauty. 

Returning home, Bonnie’s mum helped her buy a camera. She got the Canon 50D and 70-200mm lens. She read the manual twice to learn how to use it and learnt about aperture through a magazine article. Bonnie started shooting anything she could, like portraits of her friends. 

Bonnie’s first job was in a photography studio, not shooting but selling. The next step in her career was working for an e-commerce brand shooting clothes on mannequins. From there, she worked as a real estate photographer and then for a wedding studio, all the while shooting on the side too. 

Bonnie’s last full-time position was as an in-house photographer for the clothing brand, BlackMilk. This meant she was working with experienced models and on some cool campaigns. Bonnie worked there for four years until part of the creative department was made redundant, herself included. 

This change forced Bonnie to consider her options. She decided to go freelance and has been doing it for eight to nine years now. Bonnie said if she wasn’t made redundant, she wouldn’t have left her comfort zone and taken the leap at that time. However, she had a huge Instagram presence and it snowballed from there.

Photto by: Bonnie Cee

“Being on Instagram helped a lot and that’s where, still to this day, all my work would probably come from, besides word of mouth. “

A self-confessed gear fiend, after the 50D, she believes she went to the 5D range, and then the Mark II. Always wanting the latest piece of gear, she’d do whatever it took to get it, often using layby so she could get it faster. Since day one, it’s always been Canon products for Bonnie. This paid off as she’s had the honour of being a Canon ambassador for a year now. 

“I was always adding to my gear but I’ve always stuck with Canon because the colours have always just, as far as I’m concerned, been the best.”

Despite having a successful career in fashion photography, working on films was obviously a dream that Bonnie hadn’t given up on. After the birth of her daughter and Covid lockdowns, she decided to try cinematography. This decision was brought on by the transformation that motherhood led to and the spare time during lockdowns. It made her consider what she wanted out of life and with her vast photography experience, she could get involved straight away.  

Bonnie had half the gear and had been bringing more motion into campaigns anyway. She just needed to find out if it was really for her. Testing the waters with a short film first, she found the experience thrilling and was addicted. Bonnie’s favourite genre to watch is rom-com, so she focuses her energy on shooting romances. 

Bonnie’s already finished her debut short film, Run With Me. She came up with the idea for the story and hired Jo-Anne Brechin to create the script, who also wrote another of her films.  Building up connections and a good network in the industry is something Bonnie is working on. This is particularly challenging in the film world because 30 to 100 people work on a production. Being an open and friendly person, and clearly dedicated to her craft, have meant some solid supporters for Bonnie. Over the years, she’s been slowly bringing new crew on, through mutual contacts and professionals she’s worked with before.  

This full shift to cinematography has also meant the need to invest in more gear, of course. Bonnie usually shoots on a C300 Mark III, which she bought around one and a half years ago. A phenomenal piece of equipment, it’s what she uses for all of her commercial stuff and short films. For the last three productions, she’s been shooting with the C500 Mark II, as Canon’s been supporting her. 

When it comes to lenses, Bonnie used a vintage Canon FD on Run With Me. For stills, her lenses of choice are always the 24-70mm and 70-200mm, and then a couple of primes. One of the biggest differences between her still work and filming is lighting. When working on fashion photography it was typically with natural lighting, but with her films, as is common, there’s often a big emphasis on lighting to help set the mood

Photto by: Bonnie Cee

Bonnie’s already finished her debut short film, Run With Me. She came up with the idea for the story and hired Jo-Anne Brechin to create the script, who also wrote another of her films.  Building up connections and a good network in the industry is something Bonnie is working on. This is particularly challenging in the film world because 30 to 100 people work on a production. Being an open and friendly person, and clearly dedicated to her craft, have meant some solid supporters for Bonnie. Over the years, she’s been slowly bringing new crew on, through mutual contacts and professionals she’s worked with before.  

This full shift to cinematography has also meant the need to invest in more gear, of course. Bonnie usually shoots on a C300 Mark III, which she bought around one and a half years ago. A phenomenal piece of equipment, it’s what she uses for all of her commercial stuff and short films. For the last three productions, she’s been shooting with the C500 Mark II, as Canon’s been supporting her. 

When it comes to lenses, Bonnie used a vintage Canon FD on Run With Me. For stills, her lenses of choice are always the 24-70mm and 70-200mm, and then a couple of primes. One of the biggest differences between her still work and filming is lighting. When working on fashion photography it was typically with natural lighting, but with her films, as is common, there’s often a big emphasis on lighting to help set the mood.

Photto by: Bonnie Cee

“I think my filmmaking work looks incredibly different to my photography work.”

Colour is an area Bonnie is passionate about in film and photography. That’s why she developed a filter app, Colourtone. It’s been successful just by organic growth because it works and is easy. To date, it’s had more than five to five and a half million downloads, something she’s extremely proud of. 

“Something that with people's photography styles helps to really define them is the colour grade that they do on it. To be honest, that's what I think makes most of the difference between an amateur and a professional photographer.”

Bonnie likes to share advice for people who want to go down a similar path. In regards to photography, she recommends being consistent, shooting what you want to be hired for, and just keep shooting and you’ll get better. When it comes to the film world, you have to really want it because it’s not easy to pursue and films involve really long, hard days. 

She also believes there’s nothing wrong with having a day job so you can shoot on the side. Preferably, it would be one in the field you want to be in, so you can learn. 

“It’s not overnight, it takes a really long time. I don’t think I got paid for six years.” 

For Bonnie, it’s all worth it and she’s already working on more film projects and doesn’t show any sign of slowing down. 

Check out the full conversation with Bonnie Cee to learn more about her and how she built a career in photography, and then filmmaking.