When I first began photography over four years ago, I was more interested in flowers and nature. But as I learned more and the types of photography I was interested in began to expand, and began to take more self-portraits, many of which you’ve seen on the blog. But I also began looking out for fine art and portrait shoots on Instagram and Youtube, wanting to learn more about styling and editing. There are literally hundreds of photos that have inspired many of the ones I’ve taken so far, but taking portraits of other people was a bit of an obstacle for me because I don’t particularly like telling people what to do. Until I discovered it doesn’t have to be like that. Photoshoots are about collaboration, from conception to upload, and shooting anyone has its own quirks. But as I’ve learned, the process takes time and energy, and you just have to surrender yourself to it. It’s not just the end photo that matters, because sometimes ideas just don’t work. I could take 100 shots and only end up with 1 good one. But if you focus on the process, you enjoy what photography is about: a meditation on a moment in time, telling a story in a visual form.
Madu is an old friend from high school. We met through student leadership, and despite us being in different year levels, I was always struck by how similar our interests were, from passions like reading and writing to education and learning and beyond. Perhaps it’s an odd thing to like, but much as I loved high school (or at least the latter part if I’m being honest), something that I loved about leaving was that it made me see who I really wanted to spend my (extremely limited) time with. Photoshoots were the perfect excuse to meet up with someone whom I really did want to get to know better beyond the confines of high school and in the ‘real world’. Madu is someone truly amazing. She reminds me of this Morgan Harper Nichols quote:
Grace be the waterfall in the wild of my mind.
And, just as equally, this Nikita Gill one comes to mind:
But you must never ever let them take those flames from within your soul.
I think these photos tell you why.
-nat 🌺💖