The story so far...
At the end of November 2019, I inherited an old Sony camera from my step father, as he had recenty passed away. I only had it a month or so before it accidentally broke during a trip to Thailand on a kayaking incident that happened on 'Monkey Island'...but that's a story for another day...
In February after I had returned to Los Angeles from Thailand, I purchased a new camera. Soon after however, Corona Virus began to spread aggressively. With everything going on, I started to feel a little unsafe in Hollywood/Los Angeles so I decided to move back to the UK for a few months.
I managed to get on a plane the day before flights were halted, I took my camera with me and spent the next 2 months on the East coast of England in a small seaside town called Cromer.
I spent a lot of time during quarantine watching youtube tutorial videos and other online courses. Although I actually made the most progress when practicing just using trial and error, discovering new techniques, learning how to edit while trying to find and develop my own style.
Towards the end of May I flew back to Los Angeles. Soon after I saw on the news that protests had begun, there was a large crowd gathering by The Grove. I had never been to a protest before but felt an overwhelming urge to go. I felt that I needed to capture as much of what was happening as possible and be a part of the movement in the most effective way I now knew how.
I met a lot of incredible people at the protests from all walks of life. I heard stories of their pain and frustration, I saw powerful moments of love, compassion and community. It really helped me develop a much better understanding of American history and culture.
After receiving such amazing feedback from my work at the protests, it was suggested that I do an exhibition. Despite having never held an exhibition before and barely even owning my camera for 7 months, also being in the middle of the pandemic still, the idea of being able to raise money for charity by donating all of the profits from any potenial sales and to be able to showcase my photos of what had been happening in the past months, much like the urge to go to the protests initially, I simply had to.
The exhibition was a great success, lots of people came to support and I sold my first ever piece for $6000.
I have been fortunate enough to work with and learn from some fantastically talented people that have helped inspire me and encourage me on the next chapter of my life. I am now focused on creating artistic portrait photography that involves themes and messages through the medium of photography. This work I will gradually be releasing as we head into 2022.
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