Wrong turn

22nd February 2020

“Hey how are you?”
“I’m good thanks, just in Mozambique atm”
“Did you turn right instead of left at old street roundabout?”

I adore a dad joke and my friend Jake provides.
I am hyper aware of my lack of posts for two weeks now but rest assured on my 19 hour flight I drafted an epic post that will bore you to tears once I have scanned the negs from an old project to accompany it.

For now, I shall share an image or two from my recent trip.

I’ve been wallowing in a self-obsessed dark hole since November, struggling to heave myself from slight depression and ample frustration. Thankfully an assignment flew in last minute to save my soul.

I haven’t been back to Africa since 2011 and working with more NGO’s has been on the radar for a few years now. When I initially started photography all I wanted to do was be a ‘war photographer’ and work on assignments that told other people’s stories. My aim was to explore the world and learn as much as I could.
Gradually I transitioned to making work that was a little bit more conceptual or closer to home but really I think my desire deep down is to combine these ways of working and produce thought provoking imagery for and about other people. I want to create something new whilst I learn.

This was a short and simple trip but I hope that soon I’ll be able to embark on something that really challenges me and allows me to immerse myself in the process to tell a story. I need to consider how I work and not simply react to a brief but to expand on it. The emotional and moral complications of travel are always a head fuck but in the mean time I try to be open, kind and ask questions.

With storms Dennis, Jeremy, Irene etc. roaming everywhere I treated myself to an extra few days of sunshine after a freak 5 days of relentless torrential rain in Mozambique. It would be unjust to fly back on the day the clouds retired. I had forgotten how the sun warms my soul as it dances on my face. I need to bottle that feeling. I began to feel weightless.

Whilst strolling I explored the local area and ended up mostly befriending young children. Language barriers infuriate me. I feel helpless, ashamed and trapped. If I were granted any superpowers I would either speak all the worlds languages or control time and weather. With none of these abilities to hand I did the best I could in the circumstances. More soon OAO x