PART B

EDITED BY ANOUK PARDON AND SANA AGARWAL

From my camera to London: a love letter

by EMMA DO

& illustrated by NOORA BELCAID

Being away from home ever since I was young nurtured my passion for photography. I developed it gradually, from using my phone to capture moments to actually having a lm camera. I regard my development in photography as a journey of becoming, and appreciating the natural moments all around me. rough this process, I allow myself to be more vulnerable with my emotions, whether they are strong or calm. Many think to pursue photography one must become technical and precise while the core value of this art form is purely to reveal the hidden side of life by capturing layers of emotions and events for the exposure of diverse interpretation.

London can easily make you feel so alone and broken. Sometimes the only person you can depend on in this enormous city is yourself, and for those who are distant from home, relying on people who are so far away physically hurts. e fact that thousands of people pass me every day as I walk down the street, each with their own set of problems, joys, and sorrows, and that I occasionally witness random interactions between complete strangers helps me to understand how important it is to be in the present moment. I believe that this is enough. e thought of not being able to photograph frightens me. I have grown so attached to photography as a remedy when time gets hard. Because pictures speak more than words. e type of happiness I am unable to describe by words, or the type of happiness that makes my cheeks hurt from smiling, are perfectly kept in my camera. e in-between moments that I can capture are what make London worthwhile. London learns how to treat you kindly among all of the brokenness, the beauty, the giving up, and trying again.

When you start to pay attention, you realise that love is present everywhere, even in the air you breathe. Love exists in every shape or form, in the simplest acts of kindness. A way for me to feel fully alive and to be in the momentthings I have not seen myself doing in a long time - is to capture images of young children playing in the piles of autumn leaves, a throng gathered around Leicester Square to sing loudly, or an elderly couple holding hands on a chilly night stroll. Because it makes me more susceptible to experiencing my own feelings when I learn what true, delicate, and genuine love might feel like. at in this city, feeling or expressing love need not be a source of fear.

I fall in love with strangers and places via photography. When I came to London, I was in awe of this city. ere is this mixture of both modernity and heritage in the nest architectural detail. ere is something in the air that makes people scurry up and down along the chilly, dreary pavements. London humbles me in every way possible, with its rich history, the vastness and beauty that it can o er, and showing me how small I can be while waiting for a tube home on a September evening. e days I spent getting on a random bus and getting o at any stop along the way have given me a habit of watching people. ey used to say that you could be anyone you wanted to be in this city, and I believe that the diversity it fosters makes every second and every person I pass on the street immensely valuable. A street performer at Southbank will always draw me in for een minutes as his low-pitched voice reverberates through the foggy drizzle along the river. I will always nd myself spending time admiring couples spending their time in the park, under the sunlight, in an art gallery, or peacefully leaning on each other on a late train home.

In those moments, I have managed to capture love with my camera. I’ve seen love through my lenses in the way someone’s eyes lighted up like the stars, as if their souls were melting together, gracefully interwoven like the winter branches. I have seen how love puts a smile on someone’s lips, and the way it gracefully lingers in a heartbeat of pure a ection.

Everything about it is real. Just like you, others are trying to gure things out, enjoying the struggle, and struggling just as much. Your emotions are important, deserving of being felt, heard, and cared for. You do, however, unexpectedly fall in love when you are in the in-between. Because love blooms di erently in London.