Professional photographer
Four years later and this determination is beginning to pay dividends as he moves from strength to strength with his university work and as a freelance photographer. He shares his story here.
In February 2010 I started to feel ill with sickness and a headache. My dad randomly checked on me at around 3am, where he found a rash. He called 999 and I went straight to hospital where doctors battled to keep me alive. In the end I came away having only lost most of my digits on my right hand and the tips of the fingers on my left hand - not ideal for someone starting a degree in photography.
Taking photography seriously
I've been taking photography seriously since around 2007. After finding I could not capture what I wanted on a simple compact camera I saved up for months working in a camera shop on Saturdays until I could afford my first SLR camera. I then went straight on to study it at A-level at Bath College after leaving John of Gaunt School in Trowbridge, Wiltshire. I only left with one A-level from Bath, but that was the only one I wanted.
Photography. I didn't quite feel ready for university yet, so decided to enrol on a one year BTEC course at Trowbridge College, which, of course, was in photography. By the end I felt ready to attempt university and went looking around at the choices available.
Change my life forever
Little did I know though that this would be a year that would change my life forever. While looking I became ill with tonsillitis and missed many weeks of looking and applying. So, I decided to take a year out. Unfortunately, I became ill again, this time with meningitis. Over the next month I went through a lot, losing my fingers and losing the ability to walk for a while to name the worst of it. But somehow it didn't faze me. I can’t explain why. I guess losing fingers should really make you think about stopping photography as a serious career, but I really don’t remember that crossing my mind.
Massive learning curve
After only being out of hospital for a few months I went straight to looking at universities again, where I came across UCA Farnham. Fast forward six months and many surgeries and physios later I was at an interview for Farnham and somehow got in straight away, but deferring entry for a year.
This gave me just over a year to try and recover, have more surgery and find out just what I could do with a camera. It has been a massive learning curve finding out what I can and can’t do physically, but all seems to be working out fine, judging by my grades and my photos. So hopefully now it’s just onwards and upwards.
