What have you been passionate about your entire life?

I got my first camera from our Swedish neighbor Mr. Ulf, it was a disposable camera. I was 9 years old at the time, I think. I had it everywhere I went. That's when I started falling in love with cameras. In 1998 I made my dad buy me a camera, I used it a lot in Arusha to take family pictures. In 1999 I started going to school with my camera, I remember there was a day we were paid a visit by Hon. Juma Kapuya and I asked him if I could take a picture of him and he said yes, so I did. Apparently my teacher called my mom and told her that I go to school with my camera and he worries that it might interfere with my studies. But that never stopped me. 

I continued taking pictures when I moved to Dar to do my Secondary school education. I had my camera at every school events, fashion shows, last day of exams, you name it. 

My best friends were my models, I don't remember any of my best friend denying to model for me. I really do appreciate that by the way. FRIENDS ARE A GIFT FROM GOD. 

I got my first digital camera from my sister Noorie back in 2006 and I was so happy. I went with it everywhere including church. I took pictures of everything and uploaded them to our family laptop. 

When I was in India, I once went to MORE mega store and I saw this really nice camera, it was a Sony camera with a good zoom. I fell in love with it right away. I used my entire pocket money to buy that camera for $300. I came to that decision because I was in the store for 2 hours. Whenever I walked away from the camera section, I went right back again in less than 10 minutes. So I decided to buy the camera because I knew I would be so heart-broken if I left without buying it. 

I kept advancing to better cameras as time went by and of course when I had the cash. 

In 2012 I fell in love with Nikon 5100, I wanted to buy it so badly but had to use the cash for something else. I eventually bought a Nikon 5200 in 2014 and I was so happy. That was my very first DSLR camera. I was both confused and scared of using it because I didn't want to break anything (mostly because I don't like reading the manual), but I eventually got the hang of it. The challenge came in learning about ISO, F.stop, Shutter Speed, depth of field. I mean the list goes on and on. 

It wasn't easy learning all these new terminologies and their meaning and to actually make use of them in practical sense. Knowing what does what and how I can make it work for me in the next picture I took. 

I read articles, watched YouTube videos, hangout with photographers just so that I can learn something new. 

My Camera is my escape! When I work behind a camera, I forget my emotions at that time. I forget what made me sad, or happy or whatever. I am able to bring my creative ideas into life because I have a camera that I can use to do so. 

I believe finding your passion can be the answer to many problems you may be facing in life. I know my passion for being behind a camera has taken me places and given me the ability to dream and dare for more. I know I am not perfect yet, but I believe that I will get there someday.