Another beginning

I’ve always been a bit of a rebel when it comes to making life choices: from deciding to get a degree in philosophy when everyone else was studying to become a lawyer or an accountant, to moving countries and starting from scratch, and finally a few years ago giving up a financially rewarding career in management consultancy to follow my dream of running my own photography business! 

And now, in this strange year that is 2020, pursuing further education at the age of 45!

So, starting today, I am embarking on a Master’s Degree with Falmouth University. What lead me here? Firstly, although I’ve been a photographer nearly all my life, my photography knowledge has been mostly self-taught or based on focused workshops building my technical, stylistic or composition skills. I am now at a stage where I feel the need to dive deeper into the conceptual and philosophical aspects underpinning contemporary photography, to enhance my own skills and understanding and grow as a photographer – but also to help grow my businesses further, be it work in the studio or planning and running photography tours. 

Getting into the photography profession on a self-taught, self-employed basis has been fantastic for making me work super hard to achieve my goals and following a very intuitive growth pattern which helped me crystalize what I like and dislike, what I believe in and what makes me tick. But I did miss the opportunity of being amongst like-minded souls in a non-competitive environment and learning from others in an organised setting. 

I believe we never stop learning and discovering who we are, individually and professionally, and for me the last few years since doing photography full time have definitely helped me define where my passion lies. It is photographing people, particularly in genuine circumstances such as street portraiture or street photography but also in my studio. Although I am an introvert and embracing these genres keeps me out of my comfort zone, it is where I feel I thrive creatively and spiritually. So, here’s to the next 2 years. Let’s dive in!