What brought you to where you are now on the outset of your degree in Photography?

 My passion and determination for getting a degree after completing my Btec spurred me on. The reason I chose here was due to the atmosphere of the place and the amount of art influence around the City. The course was everything I wanted it to be ad so when offered unconditional I knew it was where I was meant to be.

What has made you the person you are today?

 I think my experiences from an early age have shaped me to be who I am. From traveling around Europe at the age of 9 for a year seeing artistic influences in different cultures, to going to Australia and having a camera with me at all times to experiment and document. As with many trips abroad (including two German Exchanges) I went to Australia without my parents and this allowed me to become very independant. I feel this followed me when I decided to study away from home for college. Again doing this made me comfortable with living away and having only myself there to push me.

Key moments/ events/ people who have formed you…

 A key moment would be going to Australia, this cemented the idea that I wanted to study and pursue photography. It allowed me to see how good I was with using a camera and see where I wanted to improve. An event that has also formed me is when my parents sold our house when we lived in Worthing, and then took me traveling around the coast of France, Spain and Portugal for a year. This showed me that in order to see the world you had to go out into it. It showed me that you don’t have to stay in one place forever. Everywhere is home if you call it home. The people that have formed me are obviously my parents. They have always shown me that in order to achieve you must believe in yourself and to push and strive to be as good as you know you can. They have supported all of my decisions, including when I changed from wanting to do A-Levels in academic subjects, to wanting to go to Australia with my boyfriend for a month to wanting to study 150 miles from them doing a Btec in Photography. Another person who has helped form me is my boyfriend Jordan. He was the reason I went to Australia and the reason I decided on studying photography. He has always encouraged me to follow my dreams. He was the one who told me about South Cheshire College where they offered and extremely good and comprehensive course in Photography Btec where I ended up studying and achieving D*D*D*. Without these people in my life and having the support they do I cannot imaging where I would be today.

Where did your interest in photography come from?

 My father has always had cameras in the house and has taken pictures of me and the world around him since I can remember. He was a big influence when it came to going out and taking pictures myself. In 2011 we went out with a group of people to take photographs around the Bedford area (where we lived at the time and he lent me his Canon 450D to use. This was the first experience I’d had with using a camera on manual and I learnt fast the ratio of Aperture to Shutter speed. After that he and I went out on different occasions to take photographs of the surrounding areas. This didn’t immediately make me think of studying it as a Btec or A-Level. It wasn’t until 2014 that I began to think and realise I could study it as a course. I was allowed to take the same Canon 450D camera with me when I went to Australia and test myself with seeing how much I enjoyed taking photographs. As it turned out I loved it. From there I went on to study it as a Btec and now I am extremely happy to be furthering my skills and honing them on doing Fashion, Editorial and Advertisement.

What do want/expect to gain from studying a degree in photography?

From studying a degree in Commercial Photography I expect to gain confidence in using technical equipment and enhance skills when photographing on location and in the studio. I also wish to hopefully gain the experience of working with other photographers and possibly do work placements over seas. I feel this will force me to be at the highest possible level I can be as a photographer.

What has influenced you to make this life choice?

I feel that this life choice was made because it felt like the right thing to do. I was not ready to be out of education and I felt like pursuing a career in photography wouldn’t be possible until I felt more confident and prepared for the industry. The university also had a course that appealed and showed it would have a lot of links into the industry.

 Do you have a specific interest or outlook on life that stems from your past or your upbringing?

I think that I have quite an optimistic outlook on life as I have always been very fortunate in how a lot of opportunities have turned out. I feel I am a very happy to contribute in class too as I have loved learning from a very young age and through this am also very opinionated towards art and topics in it. My parents made sure I took every opportunity that arose and so I make sure I do not let a chance to go somewhere or do something go by.

 At this point in time what kind of image maker do you want to be?

As it stands, I do not know! I hope that University helps me to discover this…