THE STORY OF WILLIAM CHARLES PHOTOGRAPHY
A Passion for Pictures
William Charles Photography was initially just a thought process that came off the back of a once in a lifetime trip to Zambia and South Africa. This was a magical trip for myself and a truly life changing venture that I was able to share with both my friends and family. From a photography point of view it magnified and reinforced an ever growing hobby and passion that before then, I had no objective to expand further than private collections.
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Once returning home I then began to explore how I could share and output the products of my passion for others to see. Being a 16 year old about to study A levels, At this point I had little to no clue of how to start a brand or even begin to publicise my pictures, so I went straight to what I did know; Social Media. I started an instagram page with absolutely no planning and made a very basic logo along with following as many photography accounts as possible.
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I must say that the only aspect that I was sure of from the beginning was the name. When I've told people about the brand, many who don't know me very well immediately question the name as it is not my own, or so they thought. William and Charles are in fact my middle names, however this is not the reason why I chose them to brand my new idea with. First William. This is my father's name who was the first to guide me into photography and help me in the very beginning. He taught me the basics of how to capture the moment perfectly and for that skill I will always be thankful. I will always cherish the memories of his tutorship and our competitiveness over whose shots were the best. Now the Charles. This was my great grandfather's name who sadly I was never able to meet, but was in fact the person who expounded photography to my father and therefore indirectly taught me. this means I'm able to use photography as a way to connect myself to my father and my great grandfather, and therefore feel the name suited both the brand and the project perfectly.
Back to the process. After setting up the page I'll be honest to say that I hit a brick wall with it all and this came in the form of school. I reached a stale mate and the project got swept under the carpet for the next few months. I did continue to build up the stock of photos after a vibrant trip to Morocco. Skip to lockdown. I began to get back to my photography, taking it more seriously and starting to really enhance and study the skill. This taught me to develop my pictures and grow my own style more and more. But then what? I was sitting on lots of finished product moments with little to do with them. For myself photos were a way to combat lockdown, not only giving myself something to concentrate my energy towards but also to keep moral up through tough times for us all.
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As lockdown began to ease I was fortunate to make a trip to France and Italy where of course the camera was always in my hand. After capturing a number of the best photos I'd taken and I knew I had to get back to the project, perfect timing also.
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There you have it, the birth of the brand and a project that was merely an idea over a year ago finally coming to life. But this is just the beginning. I hope to start growing the brand and selling the products soon in a variety of different ways
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The key goal for the project is to bring a fresh and modern perspective and style to photography that is able to be diverse enough that it can be inclusive for whoever you are. I aim to highlight the importance of photography in capturing special moments worldwide for everyone.
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- Callum Savage, Founder and Photographer -