my story

One TV station. No internet. Large gardens. Great weather. An abundance of nature and wildlife.

It’s hard to describe my childhood, but these phrases come close. Growing up in Zambia had its unique charms. We had to be creative to find entertainment outside school hours and a lot of that time was spent exploring the outdoors. I was fortunate to be in close proximity to the African flora and fauna.

The glaring contrasts between the urban city where I grew up and the wilderness was apparent to me from a young age; ecological, physical, visual, and mental. The serenity of these vast lands, the blissful feelings it created, and the excitement of spotting wildlife transpired within me; more so when I found photography (or when photography found me).

Photography, like most great things in life, came by chance. I experimented with my father’s film camera, but the expense of buying film and the development was a bit much. Fast forward to me living in London, my interest in photography afforded me a basic Nikon DSLR. It was a massive upgrade to the string of compact digital cameras I was used to. I wanted to rekindle with a creative hobby, especially as I found myself spending most of my time working or thinking about my day job.

My first trip to Masai Mara some years back quickly narrowed down the type of photography that spoke to me; a new telephoto lens may have had something to do with it! The sheer density of the wildlife was astounding for me; each day seemed more exciting than the last. As I sat outside my tent on the first evening and went through the hundreds of photos I had taken in the day, my adrenaline spiked, and I felt this overwhelming excitement as it took me back to that very moment of making the photo. It happened again a month later during post-processing – I was hooked. It was a convergence point for me that connected wildlife and photography, and with time the underrated importance of conservation. The pieces of my creative puzzle fell together nicely.