ABOUT PHILIP

Welcome!.

​

Thank you for you for your interest in my work. Behind every photo, I bring you the story of my journey in photography. .

 

My story starts as a boy in the early 1980s in the United Kingdom. I idolized wildlife photographer, Chris Peckham, who appeared frequently on Children’s BBC programming. My father also nurtured my interest as he was a very keen photographer and kept a dark room set up in the attic of my childhood home. After growing up in Kenya, his dream was to be a wildlife photographer but his life, like mine, took different turns. 

​

Despite my father’s influence, photography was not the obvious choice for years. In high school, photography was an optional course that I took a chance on. However, after only three opportunities to take a photo, I failed the course miserably. As a sensitive teen, I took the failure hard but channeled my more natural abilities with sciences into studying veterinary medicine. Again, life had other plans. I ultimately obtained a PhD in computational chemistry and got hooked on the computing and technological side of things. My dreams of photography were slowly forgotten. ​

 

Five years after finishing my PhD, I moved to Brazil. All around me were exotic birds and intoxicating natural scenes. Unfortunately, after my move, my father lost his fight to years of poor health. Before he passed, he promised to leave me his camera gear (a handful of Pentax lenses and a Fujifilm bridge camera). A couple of days after his passing, I had the most vivid dream of my father teaching me the fundamentals of photography, the exposure triangle.  I woke in a flood of tears, picked up his camera, and turned it to manual mode. And so I was newly equipped with the gear, the skills, and a new enthusiasm to return to my journey in photography. 

 

I spent several months practicing, capturing everything I could of my life in Brazil and learning with the aid of my fantastic Facebook group. However, in all that time I never used my father’s lenses. On my next trip to the United Kingdom, my uncle helped me upgrade to a DSLR which allowed me to use my father’s lenses. I developed a deep passion for photography, finding beauty where others don’t notice, and with the most fabulous hummingbirds hanging around all year I quickly gravitated to the challenge of capturing their beauty hidden in their blistering speed. 

 

Finally, the pieces of my life started to align. I used my science background to take better photos, as Brazilian import duties made getting new photographing equipment nearly impossible. I strove to understand the science behind the photos and piece together all the factors that went into taking a single shot. Along the way, I carried out experiments across all aspects of photography and shared my new knowledge with my peers. With each explanation and connection, I further cemented my understanding of the underlying principles of photography. I rapidly became embraced as a member of the admin team where the friendship, inspiration, generosity, and support has led to where I am now, for which I have such gratitude.

 

It has been a long, winding journey but photography is my passion. Through it I remain connected both to my father and the world around us. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy taking them.