— Daniel Sears

IT has been less than a year since Daniel Sears began his journey into professional

photography. For him, it started as a hobby just like most artistic styles do for other greats. Now what was once a hobby has evolved into what he calls his “baby.”
Daniel was born February 15, 1998, and is the youngest of his five siblings. Being the baby of three boys and one girl, he says played a huge part in him being an introvert, as well as the reason for his love of nature.

“I was a very playful child, but the thing is I was always an introvert, so I kept to myself a lot; I would be so afraid to talk to persons that I spent a lot of time just admiring and observing nature and trying to find the special moments in everything,” he stated.
It was this ability to observe and this uncanny interest in capturing special moments that was markedly present as he grew older and now he sees it as no surprise that his calling involves being behind the lens of a camera trying to capture every moment.

INTRODUCTION TO PHOTOGRAPHY

“I’d say my first introduction to photography came through my friend in school,” Sears stated. He recalled being the class photographer, courtesy of her (the friend) camera.
“I would always have her camera and be taking photos and soon I became the class photographer taking photos of everyone and everything going on in school,” he said.
His first camera (outside of the one his phone had that he would fiddle around with) was gifted to him over the Christmas holidays last year. According to the photographer, it was much pleading, bothering and badgering that got him the camera.

“For a long time I was like dad I want a camera, dad I need a camera, and we were in Best Buy one day and I just kept bugging him and I got it. I initially was just going to take photos of family and do photography as a hobby,” he stated.
In February of this year that all changed. Gone were the thoughts of taking photos as a hobby and replacing them was the dedication to what he would call his craft.
According to Sears, he’d spend every night watching videos and tutorials on getting the perfect photos and through the late nights the epic love was born.
“It was looking how to better my skills, messing around and being terrible all while learning that helped me fall in love with it.”

GROWING PAINS
Since his start though, there have been many learning experiences and criticisms for the 18-year-old Sears. For him, it was the endless Facebook and in-person comments ranging from “Daniel Sears is a wannabe Saajid Husani” to “Daniel Sears has no talent, is everybody is a photographer now?”
“Each criticism hurt at first, I heard it all, oh I do too much of this, oh I do too much of that, I’ve heard it all, but I’ve learned that once I’m happy with my shot and my client is happy with my shot, it doesn’t really matter what anyone else says,” he stated.

He added that listening to the constructive criticisms as well as the advice of renowned photographers like Keno George and Saajid Husani (same Husani he was compared to) has really helped him.
“I learned a lot this year, persons who I thought were fully behind me I found out weren’t really who they pretended to be. I also found out that everyone had a comment to say, but thanks to photography, I’ve matured to a point to just hear what the haters say and roll with it.”

Not bad for the introvert who spent most of his time observing and not being able to find a voice.
Sears said he liked experimenting with different types of photography, but nature-based photography and portrait shots are two categories he enjoys the most.
He’s always had a fascination with nature, since according to him nature shows the complexities of life most times in the simplest of forms.
“I saw a flower that was dying on one side and blooming on the other and it just spoke to me about how in everyday life we as humans could be alive on the outside but dead inside,” he said.

FUTURE PLANS
The current student of Nations Sixth Form College is pursuing studies in Psychology with Sociology as a minor and hopes to one day become a psychologist. He’ll never give up photography, he expressed adamantly.
“I’ve been saying a lot if I could pursue my two Ps of psychology and photography I’d be the happiest guy alive. Photography is my stress relief and it makes a bad day melt away for me, so when I get overwhelmed at work I’ll turn to photography,” he stated rather nonchalantly.

He claims his ambitions have been shaped by the persons who believe in him, such as his parents and the few people he has close to him, as well as the first set of clients who allowed him to butcher their photos as part of his learning process.
“My friend Amika was my mouthpiece and would approach people and get them to let me take their photos, Sadiya is my rock and well my new clients who put their faith in me help me to continue evolving and I’m grateful for all of them.”
With the many late nights on youtube perfecting his craft, the ambition to reach higher heights than his mentors and the fortitude to keep pushing on despite the criticisms, this 18-year-old who stands six feet four inches is certainly grabbing attention.