Interviews

Did you always know you wanted to be a creative and a photographer?

FRAANKIE: Creative AND photographer? NOPE! If we’re defining “a creative” as being an artist of some form or fashion, I’d say most definitely. My mom’s an artist, so I think that opened up a lot of doors for me to navigate the world creatively. I’ve done my share of exploring a few different creative practices throughout the years, from writing to music-making, drawing, and painting. Photography was definitely a curveball. I’ve always loved photographs. Good photographs. Bad photographs. Doesn’t matter. One of my favorite pastimes growing up was looking through family photo albums…

Did you always know you wanted to be a creative and a photographer?

REBECCA: While creativity has always been an integral part of my identity, I didn’t initially know of the possibility of pursuing it as a career. My journey towards becoming a photographer was an unexpected one. I was passionate about painting as a child, stealing my sisters’ acrylic paints and painting behind my mother’s headboard. And although I had been around cameras since I was a child, photography wasn’t the path I had envisioned for myself; I didn’t know how to make it work for me yet.

Did you always know you wanted to be a creative and a photographer?

MATTHEW: Subconsciously, I think I’ve always had a connection to art. I remember growing up surrounded by art, especially old family photographs, and I was always enamored by them. From a young age…

Did you always know you wanted to be a creative and a photographer?

PHILLIP: Honestly, I knew I was an artist as early as I can remember. I’ve moved through different mediums of creative expression though. There’s a photo of me at about four years old playing a toy snare drum. I still have a passion for music, but that’s where this all started…

Did you always know you wanted to be a creative and a photographer?

ALEXANDER: Not really. I think it was more so when I started secondary school, which is high school over in the States. With all the subjects that a student normally gets involved with, like math, science, english, and all the other subjects, Art was the one subject that really stood out for me. It was something I enjoyed doing. I felt it was not having to have so much pressure on what you make. That was what I remember really drew me to being into art more when I was younger…

Did you always know you wanted to be a creative and a photographer?

NATE: Yeah. I went back and forth for a long time, but when I was a little kid, I wanted to be an artist. When I was four or five, six years old, I always told people I wanted to be an artist when I grew up, but then I wanted to be a firefighter. I eventually came back to art. I started taking photographs when I was probably about 12 or 13, and from there I just had a little point and shoot that I used to take pictures of my friends and family. I was lucky to go to a high school where we had a darkroom and film processing equipment…

Did you always know you wanted to be a creative and a photographer?

MUMBI: Not a photographer, but I think I always wanted to be a creative. In school I played the flute and I took art classes, but I didn’t have the patience or maybe the people to help me through it. I really feel like I could’ve been a great artist. When I went to college I wanted to do art, music and dance. Those were my three things. My father told me that he’s not wasting his money on no “fru fru” things. I needed to get a job. You know, it’s very strange that he did that because my father kind of had this idea that women were wives, like we didn’t need a career, but still at the same time, he wouldn’t let me do what I wanted to do. I finished college, I struggled with depression the whole time now that I look back on it, and then I lived in the US for a while, just doing odd jobs, not anything serious…

Did you always know you wanted to be a creative and a photographer?

SHERIE: Well, first of all, I didn’t know this was a career option when I was younger. I’ve always been the creative child playing around with crayons and all that. I wasn’t really much of an outdoor person. Throughout high school, I was super involved in extracurricular activities like music festivals, drama festivals, all the arts stuff. So, in terms of knowing if I was interested in the arts, yes. Honestly I didn’t know this whole field of photography was a career path until I got to university. That’s when I actually knew…

Did you always know you wanted to be a creative and a photographer?

NICK: I’ve always been involved with creative expression in different ways, but I didn’t pick up a camera until I was maybe 17. I used to draw constantly as a young kid, and I was a poet before I was anything else seriously. I’ve always had a desire to express myself creatively and I was recognized for my ability from an early age, which probably helped it stick. It wasn’t until the height of tumblr, when I could see so many images constantly and be introduced to so many of the photographers that were my first inspirations, that I realized how much I loved photographs. I wanted to be able to be in dialogue with the things that I was seeing, and that meant speaking the same language.