My parents worked as freelance photographers, so I have it in my blood. I travelled with them every weekend, observing how they’d photograph local tourist attractions—mainly churches, palaces and manor houses, but also landscapes and events. At that time I found it very boring. Then one day they gave me a camera—a Praktica B200. My dad just told me to make sure I shot at 1/60s, not below, and showed me how to focus. We were photographing some swamps on that day. I remember climbing on a tree for a better view, stepping on a snake and one particular frame: a birch almost falling into the water, with a beautifully reflected light. I got that picture published in a tourist magazine, and I even got paid for it. I was 12. More than 10 years later I picked up photography again, out of boredom. I was studying financial computing at Brunel University in Uxbridge, but instead of attending the lectures and studying for the exams, I was exploring the area on my bike with a compact camera. I soon developed an unreasonable passion for photography, upgraded my gear to a DSLR, dropped out of university, moved to East London and started taking a photography course.
