My name is Raphael. I’m 28 years old. I grew up in a rather gray suburb of Paris, France. As a child i picked up photography pretty quick with my dad being into it and my mom inclined to travel and taking me around the world from an early age.
Few years later, after graduating from high-school, i was experiencing my rebellion years and living mainly off the streets, selling magazines and such. At this time i was sharing a small apartment downtown Paris with a gay guy named Anthony who was a photographer and who really started me going. He taught me all the basics of shooting a decent picture and helped me get my first SLR.
After a while of living the bohemian life i decided to go back to school and learn something that could get me further on the journey, which for me happened to be graphic design and print technologies. By the time i completed my studies, i was fortunate enough to be offered an internship in Spain and went there to work for a while. It was such a great experience that at this time i knew i just wanted to keep moving around the world with my work.
Luckily, directly following my internship in Spain I got offered another one in Vietnam, so there I continued on the path i had started and moved to Asia, which i loved.
In Vietnam things got more serious. I became manager of the photography and graphic production department of a fashion company and started creating networks. I also switched from analog to digital photography and started producing much more images than i ever had before. Eventually, I quit my job in the fashion industry to join a local photo agency and became a full-time photographer, and opened an art studio in Hanoi.
Nowadays I am living in Shanghai, China, and still going forward through this exiting adventure of being a freelance photographer long way away from home.
Nice story Raphael, best of luck on the rest of your journey.
Paul D