My journey into nature photography
London based urban nature photographer Jasmine Kamal-Pasha reflects on her journey into documenting our wild neighbours.
Sometimes in life, you have to experience what you don’t want, in order to realise what you do want. After High School, I felt as though I was just “going through the motions”, ticking boxes; doing A-Levels, going to University, and so on and so forth. Then, after just a few months of starting a Psychology degree, I realised that as fascinating as the subject is – and it really is – I would end up unhappy if I were to force a career out of it. So, I took a breather, and thought long and hard about the direction in which I wanted my life to go. After much deliberation, and with full support at home, I made the executive decision to go back to my roots. Creativity was my calling.
My interest in art came at an early age, and was met with no surprise by my parents. Art was something they both valued, as it has been a part of both of their lives growing up. I undertook a Foundation Diploma in Art & Design, to figure out which avenue of creativity I wanted to pursue, and as if the stars were aligning before my eyes, during this time I was also given my late Grandfather’s film SLR camera from the 60s. Eye to the viewfinder, my lens gravitated towards nature, without fail. Starting photography with a fully mechanical camera, meant I developed a strong technical discipline, and learned to patiently compose and correctly expose images.
Looking back, it is as though my love for photography was the key to unleashing the love I have always had for nature. A lot of my childhood was spent outdoors. I was fortunate enough to have a generous size back garden, as well as being a five minute walk from my local park. My father was, and still is, an avid gardener, and I would spend a lot of time watching and helping him – playing with worms, and collecting snails when they took it upon themselves to make a meal of my father’s plants!
So there I was, a young British woman of South Asian descent, about to embark on a fine art based degree in photography, with a passion for nature and wildlife. Perhaps I was naive, or perhaps I just didn’t care, but it wasn’t until this point when it occurred to me that I was not executing “standard behaviour” for a South Asian female. Generally speaking, not only are there different “rules” for men and women, there is also a pressure amongst the older South Asian community for their children to pursue roles in medicine or law. A mentality that came about for many immigrants in the 50s to 70s, whom moved to the UK for a “better life”. Fortunately, I was raised on the simple principles of, ‘work hard and be happy’. There was never any pressure to follow the opinions of the traditional wider South Asian community. Thanks, Mum and Dad!
Although I decided to do a degree in photography, I didn’t yet know where it could take me, not specifically. Combining it with a passion for art and nature, made things a little more complicated. At the time, there were no real examples in front of me, to which I could aspire to. Sometimes it is hard to imagine what you can become, if someone that reflects you isn’t already doing it. Nonetheless, I chose to pursue photography because nothing else gave me such happiness. As I began to create conceptual imagery showing the relationship between humans and nature, I realised the power of photography and its ability to create awareness and get people thinking. I wanted to create this awareness within the wider South Asian community, I wanted to become a gateway to a new level of their appreciation for art, photography, and nature.
It was within the South Asian community, however, where I met my biggest critics. A career in the arts is not highly regarded by the stereotypical Asian, and a career in nature is beyond their comprehension. I’ve lost count of the number of times I was told to get into Asian wedding photography, because “that’s where the money is”. It is often the immediate response to me stating my passion for photography, nature, and wildlife – dismissed and ignored as if it is not even conceivable.
It’s not all bad, however, there have been moments when my faith in the Asian community has been restored, through refreshing conversations with people about how I am an inspiration and I am setting a positive example by going against the norm. It is these conversations that wipe away those fleeting moments of self-doubt, and motivate me to continue following my passion and encouraging others within my community and beyond, to do the same.