The Noblest of Intentions

My Photo scholarship 2011 entry

China | Friday, October 14, 2011 | 5 photos

The world constantly amazes me, and since I discovered photography I travel through live with an unquenchable urge to share what I see with others. I bought my first real camera shortly after leaving school, and I honestly don’t know which came first – the love of photography or the love of travel. The places I have been to inspire me to take better pictures, and my love of taking and sharing those pictures keeps driving me to new destinations.

I began my travel blog in January this year (http://poiseonarrows.blogspot.com/) and now that I have a platform from which to share my images with people, I realise that I want to be able to communicate so much more. I’ve seen so much of the world already, and it makes me laugh and cry and it baffles me. I want my pictures to be able to move people so that they feel they are in that frame with me, that they can share the immediacy of my experiences and be as inspired by life as I am. This scholarship would be my diving board for bigger things and better photographs.

My photos are all from a recent journey to Kashgar, a small town in Xinjiang province of China. These people have been through tornadoes of political problems and are constantly struggling against poverty. This province shares it's border with 7 other countries and examples the struggle of minorities in China. Kashgar looks like Afghanistan, tastes like Turkey, runs on inacurrate Chinese Beijing time - and yet I was so struck by these people’s sense of identity. Their fight isn’t well known, and this trip reminds me of how badly I want to be able to inspire people with my images.

I do not alter my images. At all.