Jourduhns Journey

The Beginning.
18th October 2021. The date my life changed, and it’s not to do with that virus that was in the air.
The week before, I came across a content creator on YouTube named Chris Hau, and he talked about one of his sources of income: Travel Photography. I was intrigued as I love traveling and was starting to enjoy street photography. The more I looked into his story, the more I realised this was the perfect choice for me. It wouldn’t be easy as to build your portfolio; you have to be quite actively travelling, and we had just come out of a global pandemic, but it was a challenge I couldn’t wait to begin. We had not long come out of the lockdown in the U.K., and all the bars and clubs weren’t open to full capacity, so I was working part-time at a restaurant while waiting for some more DJ gigs to come my way. I jumped onto the app Kiwi.com (an online travel website) and booked a return ticket to Milan for £9. Yes, that’s right, £9. Many countries were still semi-locked down, and airlines were desperate, but I didn’t expect it to be that cheap. Either way, I couldn’t wait to get this show on the road.

I won’t lie; I was extremely nervous about this trip. I had been doing photography for not even six months, and I was already travelling to another country to take pictures. As the day was arriving, I thought I was reaching too far. I didn’t even know how to use my camera correctly. I had basic knowledge of the meaning of shutter speed and ISO, but I needed more confidence in the topic. I had always just winged it and hoped for the best. My editing might have been good, and I frequently had good feedback from my images, but I was a beginner with Lightroom. And don’t even get me started on photoshop. There were many more issues, but I knew I really wanted to do this, and if I saw this as a career path, I had to start from somewhere. Nothing is impossible. Even the word itself says, “Im Possible”.

How has it been?
I can’t believe the journey that I have been on so far. Travelling to all these different cities, even if some have been only for a few days, I’ve still tried to take in as much of the culture as possible. The content I’ve been able to get has been some of my best work, which has also landed me paid jobs in other areas of photography. London is a beautiful city in terms of structure and history, and you can capture a lot of scenery. But nothing compares to capturing shots in a different country. You want your work to stand out, and as a London street photographer, we all tend to have the same images. Yes, we all have our own touch, but I want to stand out from the crowd.

Where can improve?

My most significant setback is promoting my work and my online presence. I need to network with other content creators more frequently. This should bring more opportunities and land me more paid jobs. I also should be posting a bit more. The only issue with this is I stand by the phrase, Quality over Quantity. Especially with how Instagram is with the algorithm, your content has to be outstanding to reach any traction and gain engagement. One way for me to gain some exposure to help with my social media footprint would be to try and collaborate more with other content creators, so that is another thing I can work on.

What’s next?

Well, my target for this year was to travel to six cities, and it is only October. I’ve already achieved that goal, with two more trips already booked until the end of year. I also plan to add drone content to my portfolio, adding a different perspective to my creativity. YouTube is another avenue I would like to venture down more, but ideally, I plan to master my photography further.

Conclusion.

The last three years have been truly amazing. I’ve learnt so much, experienced so much and met some unique and talented individuals. There have been some challenging moments. There were times when I didn’t feel like I was good enough and that I’d never book a paid job, But with the good comes the ugly, and you have to stick it out and work hard for what you want in life. I want to thank everyone who has supported me on this journey. You, the readers who are currently reading this post (if you made it this far). Everyone who shares my posts and leaves likes and comments. My friends and family, for all the supportive words and motivating speeches. I promise to continue for the next 12 months and bless you with another blog post in October 2024.