The middle of 2010 was when it all began. A friend of mine let me play around with her Canon 450D. I was hooked in an instant and I had no idea what I was doing. I can’t say that my origin story is anything special. I just “found photography” and ran with it, finding out soon enough that portraits were something I really enjoyed.

What I didn’t expect was to find myself six and a half years later with an entirely different life; a life of exploration and mountain climbing, of creative collaboration full of smiling faces, of mountain sunrises and street moments in monochrome, of personal confidence rebuilt and problems fixed, and true purpose in life — to make engaging images with amazing people.

Throughout the last few years my focus shifted from portraits towards more opportunistic and frequent photography. I discovered street photography, began hiking more for landscapes, even going so far as to sell all of my digital SLR gear and make pictures with only a rangefinder and a tiny 35mm lens. It gave me a great perspective on other sides of photography, image processing styles, shooting and working with film, on taking my time and pushing myself to be consistent in my vision.

The amount I’ve learnt in the last few years has furthered my understanding of it all, turning me into a better photographer able to produce better results. Lately however, I’ve been feeling a great desire to explore portraits again with all that I've learnt. A spark was reaching out for something to ignite.

I've always enjoyed creating portraits, but I had all but given it up both aspirationally and technologically. The business side of things has been a constant battle in my mind, and with other new avenues to explore and keep me busy, I became complacent and unmotivated to start. Lately, though, I've had the nagging feeling that I need to push through that sense of inertia and just do it.

I have a few of my friends to thank for helping light the fire, along with a healthy dose of inspiration from some of the best portrait photographers I know of, but the fire has been lit once again and I've begun to lay the foundations for a new approach to portraits.

Joey L, Ryan Muirhead, and Lara Jade for example, are some of my big influences at the moment along with many people I’ve met throughout the years such Kurt Thompson, Morgan Roberts and others making a name for themselves.

I'm setting myself up with the gear I need, getting in contact with some amazingly creative individuals and I'm going to make this happen. 2017 is going to be a challenging and exciting year and I can't wait.