CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS

I’ve always enjoyed being a part of my local community. I enjoy doing volunteer work and putting in my time and efforts to projects within the community. Most of my charitable contributions these days manifest through how I can use my photography and influence to give people meaningful images.

Whether I’ve been capturing the portraits of elderly care home residents during lockdown, photographing local sports such as the Basingstoke Bison ice hockey team or a taekwondo club in Overton, capturing fundraiser and charity events such as for the Samaritans or SIDS awareness, whatever I can do to give back to the community, I will.

I will always try to make time to do work for charity. I like to think that I can use my photography to make a positive difference to someone’s day. I would like my charitable efforts to have a lasting effect for those I choose to help, whether that’s through capturing memories, or giving my time. I think everyone should aim to do charitable work or give back to their local communities in what ever capacity that they can manage.

LOCKDOWN PORTRAITS

2020 was the year that I planned to really lean into my photography business to get it off the ground. Unfortunately, this was bad timing - Covid19 and lockdowns meant that I wasn’t able to do what I wanted to with it. During this time I was working as a Care Assistant in a care home and so I decided to take advantage of this, and capture some images of the residents.

I have always wanted to capture the generation that lived through the Second World War and so during one of the lockdowns, I asked for and gained permission from my manager to take some photos of the residents. I thought it would be a nice touch to capture the residents during the Christmas period, in a time when their families weren’t able to visit them as a gift to the residents themselves, and their families.

I captured the images in black and white and colour but only showcase the black and white below.

If you are interested in booking a session like this, for your residents - reach out to me and we can get a session in the diary.

CHRISTMAS CAROL FUNDRAISER

During the Christmas holidays of 2016 I offered to photograph and document the Samaritans Christmas Carol service in Basingstoke. Every year the Basingstoke Samaritans host a Christmas Carol Concert to raise money for their charity.

At this time, I was a volunteer for the charity, something that I absolutely loved.

The Samaritans charity do very important work which is so meaningful to those who really need help and emotionally support by saving lives and really making a difference for people who reach out.

ICE HOCKEY

Recently, I have been also tried my hand at sports photography, donating my photographic services to the Basingstoke Bison and the Bracknell Devils ice hockey teams. I photographed matches at the Planet Ice rink in Basingstoke.

All work that was done on behalf of the teams was done unpaid. I enjoyed watching the bison as they are a very strong team and I wanted to use the opportunity to learn how to become a skilled photographer within fast paced sports, by not only capturing the action but also telling the story through the narrative building images. I would like to think that my images will bring more attention to UK Ice hockey as it is a undervalued sport here and I personally believe that everyone should watch a match.