This blog post means a great deal to me. It is both a return to something familiar, and the beginning of something new. Before I shot weddings, before I got lucky enough to be too busy to think about anything but weddings, I used to make a lot of personal work. Photography was an outlet for my ideas and an expression of what was going on inside. And while I obviously love love love calling photography work now, for the longest time I’ve missed not making personal work, not shooting anything just for myself.

Sure, I’ve talked about starting a personal project. A lot. I’ve abused Instagram and I’ve tried to complete a 365 project on the iPhone. But it is not the same. When ever I thought about a ‘proper’ personal project, I felt it should be something… grand, something with a wider reach, something that would help people… and yes, that’s something I still want to do down the line. But I realised that in order to start making more personal work, I have to start with something more straightforward. I have to start from within. I have to start with what gives me joy, right now.

So, almost by accident, I finally stumbled onto a project. The music of  Message to Bears has been hugely inspirational to me for a while now. Many a wedding has been edited to the beautiful songs written by Jerome Alexander, and I felt this huge pull to spend some time with this man and make a few photos along the way. When we got together and walked around Southwark chatting about music and chasing the sun, a feeling of a flame being ignited took over. I had nearly forgotten how amazing it felt to be taking photographs just for myself, just because. And then and there I decided that this would continue…

The working name for this project is ‘Dreamers’, and I mean to photograph people who inspire me in different ways. People who dream big.

I am so fricken excited.