I was born in France to an African family and I've now lived in London for over twenty years, so "where are you from" has never had a short answer for me. What that upbringing did give me, though, was practice: growing up between cultures teaches you to watch closely, to notice what's different before you understand why, to hold two ways of doing things at once without needing to pick a side. It turns out that's a genuinely useful skill for a job that's really about paying attention.
For ten years before this, I worked as a nanny for families with very little patience for anything that felt intrusive. I learned to anticipate what was needed before it was asked for, to be present without being in the way, to notice the small things that make someone feel properly looked after. Photography asks for exactly the same instinct: close enough to catch what's real, quiet enough that it still happens naturally.
About fifteen years ago I started travelling alone and that's where I found the version of travel I actually love: staying with a local family instead of a hotel, waking up at 4am for a sunrise no map would show you, eating somewhere with no sign and a menu nobody bothers to translate. I like being inside a place and slightly outside it at the same time: immersed enough to feel it, removed enough to really see it. I think that's the same instinct that made wedding photography suit me for so long, just pointed at a different kind of day.
