It's hard to explain the feeling of landing your first kickflip to someone who has never skated. The perseverance. The trial and error, day in, day out. The frustration of failing over and over and over, until the surreal moment you finally land it.

It's a joy and pride I will never forget.

That was long before I picked up a camera. I was a dedicated skateboarder for most of my childhood and teens, and it's funny how a plank of wood and some wheels can change your whole life. The more I skated, the more a new world opened up. I made friends, travelled across London, and annoyed every security guard within the M25.

Skate culture is also where my craft began. As a group you get better, so you start filming yourselves and shooting full-length videos. That lit a spark. I was glued to Thrasher, trying to recreate not only the tricks but the videos and filming styles behind them. By the time I was specialising at college, my interest in cameras had outgrown skateboarding, and I knew I wanted to be a photographer.

Who knew my career would start with my dad's old iPhone 4 balanced on a water bottle, filming a kickflip?