It has taken me a while to classify what it is exactly that I am. What type of photographer, and even what type of person. But recently I have realised that those two things are inextricably linked. I am a photo-journalist. It has also taken me a while to write my "about" section, if you will, and write about my journey towards being a photographer and defining myself as a photo-journalist, but here it is.

I am, most definitely, a product of my childhood, and to say that I was an awkward child is an understatement of mythic proportions. My older brother was blessed with an outgoing and gregarious personality, and I an introvert. I never really felt comfortable anywhere and would always just sit or stand back and people watch, just taking it all in. I always loved being creative; drawing, painting, writing; but when I discovered photography at the age of about sixteen, something changed for me. Suddenly, I felt comfortable. It was as if my camera were my shield, protecting me from the outside world. My years of feeling awkward and people watching suddenly felt like an advantage and not the burden I had imagined them to be.

They say hindsight is 20/20, and that is definitely true of this case. I only realised in retrospect, the significance of that feeling. It would be another nine years before I connected the dots and felt that comfort again. I think back now on those in-between years, my No-Man's Land, and I am thankful for them. They led me down a path in the creative fields and eventually to where I should have been all along, photography.

Everyone has a journey that leads them to their final destination; mine led me to finding what I am truly passionate about, and what I believe I was put here to do.