These were the words my photography mentor offered me before I ever took my first photograph; his wisdom compressed into three simple words which hardly felt significant at the time. He held out his hands and we began analyzing the light and shadows on them as the sun set in the distance. To be honest, I don’t even remember what we took photos of that evening – I just remember those hands – and being somewhat confused by his explanation of light and shadows. Looking back, it was a lesson that would slowly begin to transform my life.

You see, after all these years of photography I still learn to see light differently every day; its subtleties, nature and nuances. I’ve discovered that as our vision of light changes, so does the very nature of our subjects. This is what makes the process of learning photography so special; in training our eyes to see the world differently, we cannot help but invite our hearts to do the same.

It’s no lofty assertion to claim that everyone has a different relationship with their camera, and the scope of that relationship is visible in what we create. We soon realize that what we create externally is inextricably an extension of who we are internally, and every click is a little captured piece of who we are and how we see the world.

I think for anyone who whole-heartedly invests themselves into learning, mastering and actively loving something knows their ‘Craft 101’ is synonymous with ‘Life 101’ – for life offers its greatest lessons by our investment in it. In both my personal life and professional life, I’ve been surrounded by a lot of artists and dancers, and any dancer would tell you, ‘everything there is to know about life can understood through dance’. Certainly the same is true for photography.

When I work with students now in the field,  I often start with the same wisdom my mentor offered me. I laugh at the idea they feel the same as I did; because now I’m the bonkers grey haired man showing my hand and saying to them, ‘look at the shadows in the wrinkles of my palm!’ Luckily, after all these years I’ve come up with some better ways to teach lighting than just that. I know that everyone starts with a different eye, a different heart, and a unique way of learning the world. Learning the language of light is, and should be, nothing less than a transformation in ourselves if we want the process to be joyful, meaningful, and fulfilling. Most of all, having teachers or mentors to offer us their eyes, and show us their hands, is an irreplaceable gift.

A global pandemic has conveniently offered me the opportunity to reflect on my own journey these past years. How could I have known that looking at hands all those years ago would change my world? How could I imagine that photography would function as the tool to help me let go of what I thought I was seeing, and to gaze deeply into the nature of people, places, and things around me. For the past many years I’ve committed my life to the art of photography, and it has taken me on a grand many adventures around the world. These are my stories.