"In 2019, my mum got me my first camera and I took it up as a hobby. After taking some portraits of friends and family, I was surprised to find them offering to pay for my photos. I was shocked and thought, 'perhaps I’m actually good at this'! Today I run my own photography business and have commercial clients and high-street brands wanting to work with me. So my message to anyone starting out is: don’t give up.
"I took these fun festive photos in a shopping centre in Leicester, England, the week before Christmas, alongside model Daise Garcia. I wanted to capture the same magic you see in Christmas movies set in New York, to give my portraits a cinematic quality. I like to tell a story, with my images, props, poses and lighting all making a big difference to an ordinary environment."
"The challenges of shooting in a busy city centre were access and weather. I wanted to shoot in Santa’s grotto for some of the images, so I talked to the council and organizers, who agreed to let me shoot there for one hour before it opened to the public. It costs nothing to ask, and if you’re polite, with some luck they might say yes. I also kept them involved on the day, showing them the shots I was taking to keep them happy – they couldn’t believe the shots were taken in the city centre. My Canon EOS R and RF 85mm wide open at f/1.2 created loads of dreamy bokeh, and my Profoto flash with a beauty dish attached created that cinematic look I was after."
