Jackie, a commercial photographer and teacher of photography at Kingswood TAFE, has recently been appointed as chair of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography, the first woman to hold this office in the Institute's 45-year history.

She was previously also the first woman to fill the role of president of the Institute, the peak professional body for photographers with more than 2000 members.

Another woman, Alice Bennett, followed Jackie as president _ another first with two women now leading advocates for what has until recent years been a male-dominated profession.

As a commercial photographer Jackie spends a lot of time on building sites wearing "big boots and hard hats''.

"One of the most challenging jobs I finished about three or four months ago,'' Jackie said.

"I had to create an image 7.5 metres by 3.5 metres for the exterior of a building.

"I had to come up with a design and it was a pretty boxy building.

"I went to the beach. I was trying to get inspired and I thought it would be good to have an opposite shape like spiral,'' she said.

She found inspiration in the elegance of the nautilus shell.

After tracking down some large nautilus shells Jackie needed more than just an exterior shot of the shells.

The next stop was her local vet who did X-rays of the shells to reveal the exquisite and delicate spirals within.

"I really do love photography,'' she said. "I've been fortunate. My sister was an artist and I can't draw but something's in there.

"I like to see shapes and design and get the best out of it, even if it's a brick,'' she laughs in an obtuse reference to one of her other clients.

And while Jackie believes the Photoshop computer image processing program is a little over-used by some photographers, she admits she would not have been able to produce the nautilus shell image without it.

For more information: www.aipp.com.au.