Out of thousands of applicants me (and 99 other photographers) were selected for the ‘Canon Student Development Programme’ - in which I was mentored by a professional (published and award winning) photographer: Dan Balilty, to further develop my ‘Covid photography project: Distance’

This is my first project on street photography, documenting current events and watching how people reflect the effects of the pandemic. Completely candid.

I began doing street photography at the start of the pandemic in 2020. I decided to stop the project in 2022, as it’s no longer relevant... in public, and in the media.

I struggle with social anxiety, which worsened over the lockdowns. I knew I would have to battle this, if I was to properly capture the changing times. In retrospect my anxiety is reflected in the people I photographed.

What’s special is how as well as the people being fearful of the virus and essentially other people... I was also afraid of them. Gradually I got closer and over my personal fear to benefit the imagery and gain a stronger emotional connection with the person in the photograph. Every street photographer goes through something like this...

I focused on seeing the moments just before they happen, break through the fear and capture the fleeting moment. I hope people can see from my photos that every anxious moment I've been through, I survived and I'm a better person because of the risks I took.