On becoming an Official FUJIFILM X-Photographer

There are moments in life that arrive that take you by surprise, as they place you at a threshold. Of what has been and what is becoming. They invite you to pause. To take stock, to look again at this thing you get to call work and the squiggly path that has carried you here. It feels humbling in the truest sense of the word, a moment of standing at the wildest edge. Becoming an Official FUJIFILM X-Photographer is one of those moments for me.

The journey so far is one that has unfurled over several years. I whole-heartedly adore my Fujifilm kit and shared about this (here) long before the team reached out. We started working on projects together, shooting stories with the instax WIDE evo and speaking at photography events across the UK.

And then the moment came, where things got wonderfully surreal

Roll back to July last year, I was a world away. In Iceland on a Creative Residency at Arctic Canvas (read more here), and the Fujifilm Team asked to book in a call. In between booking the call and it happening, I had an unfolding dental drama, (one of my teeth was cracked from the impact of a head injury in May. But had waited till I was in one of the most expensive countries in the world to make itself known……) so I was en route to an emergency dental appointment for a root canal when we had the call!

For some reason, the Teams app wouldn’t work properly on my phone. I could see the Fujifilm team but all that would work on my phone was the front facing camera. It was the most awesome moment made all the more surreal by the tech issue and me not being able to share my reaction but instead share a driving tour of the mountain road unfolding ahead. It felt like serendipity was lining up. To be in my favourite place in the whole world. The place that brings me home to myself. Where I connect so deeply with photography at the wildest of edges. To have this Official FUJIFILM X-Photographer conversation there just weaves more of my story and that place together. Alongside the tools that have allowed me to share the visual stories to me that matter so deeply.

Fujifilm announced the news in the first week of January. I’d been in the office all day with music streaming on random play all day. At the moment the post went live, Cinematic Orchestra ‘To Build a Home’ shuffled on. It took my breath away. I love that song, for me it is such a poignant song, because photography is how I navigate the world. A way of seeing that is interwoven with my way of being in the world. Photography has always been a constant in my life. The last few years of self discovery have opened horizons and led to a homecoming. One I never thought would be possible. Home, not etched into a physical place on a map but a way of being. So for that song to come on was absolutely wild!

This Official FUJIFILM X-Photographer partnership feels meaningful because it is one that has evolved organically. It authentically mirrors the way my life and work have evolved. Honouring the idea that creativity is not linear. That technology can be enabling, and that storytelling becomes most powerful when it is shared openly rather than guarded behind gates. A continuation of a way of seeing that has been unfolding for years. Through earth, sea and sky, guided by igniting curiosity, sparking wonder and awe and a deep belief in the power of visual storytelling.

What it means to become an Official FUJIFILM X-Photographer

At its heart, becoming an Official FUJIFILM X-Photographer is about alignment. Alignment of values, vision and belief in photography as a living language, about how it feels to create photos. Fujifilm’s long standing commitment to “life as you see it” resonates deeply with how I move through the world. As well as how I photograph within it.

What drew me to this role, was the energy of the brand. As well as a deep sense I’ve always held, of contributing to the photography community. It is about speaking, teaching, experimenting and sharing what I learn along the way so others can feel invited in rather than excluded. Ungatekeeping photography matters to me. Especially in an industry that historically to its cost, lacked diversity and in so many ways this still prevails. So it also comes with a profound sense of responsibility to honour this and champion diversity. To tell stories that matter. Amplifying voices beyond my own and to use visibility as a force for connection, conservation and collective remembering. That we are part of nature, not separate from it and how through photography I find myself most at home at these wild edges.

Why I moved to Fujifilm and why disruption matters

Sometimes disruption is not destruction or negative. Sometimes it is liberation. I have written in depth about why I moved my entire system to FUJIFILM X Series and what it changed. This story is one that continues to be written.

The short version is this. Fujifilm disrupted how I could connect with the wildest edges, exploring underwater for the first time. It transformed how I felt in my body while working. Their lighter kit having less of a burden on you in the field when shooting. And it is quite simply fun and beautiful to use. Intuitive controls, colour science that weave deep textures of feeling through images. It gave me freedom to move differently, to stay longer and feel safer in wild places, to carry less and notice more. That disruption was creative, physical and philosophical all at once.

But that camera switch did not happen in isolation. It arrived during a period when my entire life was being reframed. By two positive disruptions that landed in quick succession.

Two positive disruptions that changed everything

The first was my late diagnosed ADHD in 2021. With diagnosis came clarity, compassion and an explanation for patterns I had lived with my entire life. Medication removed a barrier I had carried for decades without realising it was optional. Severe motion sickness, which had kept me landlocked and wary of boats, simply lifted.

Suddenly the ocean shifted from something I watched from the edge to something I could enter fully. I could cross rough seas, work from boats, photograph without nausea and stay present in conditions. Conditions that would once have flattened me. It felt like an entire dimension of my life unlocked.

The second disruption arrived through a camera

A second hand FUJIFILM X-T2 paired with a 16mm lens and a Seafrogs housing. I slipped beneath the surface of Walpole Bay tidal pool for the first time and everything changed. That moment opened a pathway into underwater photography, marine conservation storytelling and a deeper relationship with the sea that now shapes my work at every level.

Those two disruptions expanded my world. They opened the doorway to water, to conservation, to becoming President of the Board at Whale Wise. As well as to photographing from the wild edges of earth, sea and sky. I would not be doing what I do, in the way that I do it, without this journey unfolding in this way.

Projects, talks and shared ground

Since moving to Fujifilm, our relationship has unfolded organically. I have spoken at The Photography Show, Wales and West Photography Show, Kent Photographic Roadshow, Cambridge Photography Show and Fujikina London. Each space offering conversations rooted in igniting curiosity. You can read more about what I learned at Fujikina here, what I learned about ungatekeeping photography at Fujikina.

One of the most memorable projects was road testing the instax WIDE Evo in the wintery Arctic. Creating content at the wildest of edges to support the launch. I shared a behind the scenes case study about the shoot here and it encapsulates what I love most about working with Fujifilm. Trust, creative freedom and a willingness to let place and process shape the story.

Japan, FUJIFILM Square and the feeling of alchemy

Travelling to Japan with FUIJIFILM UK and other Official FUJIFILM X-Photographers to meet the head office team was beyond anything I could have imagined. Ten of us travelled together to Tokyo. Stepping into Fujifilm Square with the deep history of the brand and the evolution of technology in the store. A reminder of how rapidly things evolve. The factory experience was something I utterly LOVED! I love a process and to see how things are made. It is in these spaces where decades of craft, innovation and care are distilled into physical form.

Tokyo itself felt liminal. Days blurring into nights, light folding into shadow, the known dissolving just enough to make space for something new. Conversations felt alive with potential. Ideas sparked easily. It felt less like a corporate visit and more like a gathering of souls. Each connected through a shared love of light.

Witnessing how Fujifilm think, make and care about photography was quietly radical. It reminded me that when curiosity and wonder are allowed to lead, something truly epic can unfurl.

Sharing the story because it matters

This moment makes me emotional because it is bigger than me. I feel a duty to share my story open and honestly because I only came to recognise my own truth after someone else stepped into the light and shared theirs. I would not be in this moment without the profound disruptions since 2021. This is why I am so passionate about the power of storytelling. Representation, openness and vulnerability matter. They create permission, they create space, they unravel to remembering and they rewrite more than we could ever think possible.

So as I start this journey as an Official FUJIFILM X-Photographer, you’ll find me as always, chasing light in liminal spaces. At the wild edges of earth, sea and sky, questioning and reimagining what is possible and seeking out the stories that rewild our connection to nature and to each other.

There is so much more to come and I cannot wait to share it.