I’m Toff,
I don’t have an exciting back story to tell you about how I always wanted to be a Photographer, how I dreamt of buying my first camera or how or I saw something that inspired me and forever changed my perspective on life. I don’t have a Degree in Photography or even have 10 years of experience in the industry, in fact far from it.
To an outsider these may all seem to be traits that all “Creatives” should have, and at the very least things you would look for when hiring a Photographer, but let me invite you briefly into my world and explain how all of these seemingly important traits that I am without, in fact play to my strengths.
The truth is I accidentally stumbled upon doing this as a Career while studying my BSC (Hons) Degree in “Computer Science” at the University of Plymouth. In my 2nd year I had to take an Arty Module that was heavily based around photography, I didn’t actually own a camera at this point and the ones that were offered up for hire by the University were Prehistoric looking to say the least, this coupled with their Library type policy for late returns swayed me to purchase a Camera.
After the lack of equipment issue had been solved this is when the ball (my Photography career in this metaphor) started to roll. I spent the succeeding weeks taking pictures of everything that I could point my camera at and soon realised that just having a good camera doesn’t necessarily lead to an image of equal quality, there is far more involved.
Still at University and in need of a little extra cash I thought I would see if I turn my new toy to a lucrative asset. So I started trying to sell photos on Royalty Free Stock websites and applied for several part time Photography jobs. After getting offered positions by multiple employers and having several images accepted online I started to think I might be a natural at this Photography lark. So I took a few of the jobs and juggled them with my studies, I LOVED working with the camera and way it allowed me to express creativity and tell a unique story.
When I finished University I started in a graduate job almost immediately, despite the discipline of my Degree turns out “an office” is not my natural environment. Bored is not the word for what I was, after 3 long months in the office I decided to leave to pursue my new passion. Photography. And I haven’t looked back since.
Fast-forward to the present and I am still working as a Photographer, I love it more every day. I love the challenges that it presents, the way it pushes me to stretch boundaries and most of all the satisfaction of giving a customer a set of images that they are truly happy with.
And to my above claims,
10 years experience I don’t have but I am going on for 3 years now, and in those 3 years I have learnt a lot. I have shot varied subjects in a range or environments using different techniques while working to all sorts of timescales. I don’t like to pigeonhole myself to a certain type of Photography, I will photograph anything that I get the opportunity to, if I’ve done it before I’ll take a new approach to keep it fresh, if I haven’t then bring on the challenge.
OK so I don’t have a degree in the subject, So What? Although I do have a Degree, it’s in a field where the relevance of having one is more apparent. The beauty of Photography is that to showcase my work I have to show some pictures to the client. If my pictures are better the other Photographers bidding for the job, having a Degree instantly become irrelevant. The technical aspects of using a camera and understanding light is something that needs to be learnt, but in the end Art is subjective and I haven’t hit any limitations thus far by not having a Photography Degree.
Just because this wasn’t a childhood dream like every other web bio I read before writing this seemed to stipulate, this doesn’t mean I have any less passion or talent for my craft. If anything, it means that I didn’t have any preconceived conceptions about what a life as a photographer would be like. Some people live to work, some people work to live for me it’s one and the same, I’m lucky enough to do something I really enjoy and then get paid for it at the end of the day.
And if that dribble didn’t convince you then take a look at my photos and hopefully they'll speak for themselves.