Left
Creativecollaboration
Onyi capturesself-portraitswith
the help ofherhusband.Sheuses
a Canon5DMKIII andtheSigma
50mmf/1.4Artlens
Allimages©OnyiMossLifestyle photographer Onyi Moss shares her
creative journey, influences from nature, and how
oneboldmovekick-startedherprofessionalcareer
T
ell us about your journey. You’re
a self-taught photographer, so
what made you start shooting
photography professionally?
It’s a bit of a funny story. I was unemployed
for quite some time, and I found myself
binge-watching all the reality TV shows I
could get my hands on. Most of them were
quite entertaining, but then I stumbled
upon Fashion Bloggers on E!, which was
very different from everything else I’d
seen. It showcased a group of creative
women who happened to all be self-taught
photographers, taking editorial portraits
of themselves and blogging about it at the
same time. They had been successful at
their craft – so much so that their work
had gone on to be featured in Vogue and
Harper’s Bazaar.
I was inspired! Rather than pay the
rent that month (I was in charge of thehousehold finances, since my background
is in accounting), I opted to buy a camera
with the rent money.* This was something
my husband only found out about after the
landlord began chasing him for the rent.
When he checked in with me to see what
had happened, I told him I had ordered a
camera instead. His exact words were “F it!
We have a new camera, we’ll sort the rent
out later”.
Since I was mostly the reason why we
were behind on the rent, I took it upon
myself to learn how to shoot with my new
camera. Then began my long hours on
YouTube watching photography and editing
tutorials, all of which I soon started to put
into practice with my self-portraits. When
I started getting better, my husband also
took an interest in it, and so I taught him
what I knew.
*We eventually caught up on our rent!OnyiMossis
a self-taught
photographer
basedin
Manchester,
UK.Originally
from Nigeria,shemoved
to the UK to advanceher
career as a chartered
accountant. Shelater
discovered herpassion
for photography,andthis
led to the creationofher
blog, which shenowruns
alongside herhusbandCraig.
Together theycreatefashion,
lifestyle and travelcontent.@mossonyi
mossonyi.comOne from the archives
Onyi shared her wedding guest look with followers,
and the Instagram post also subtly highlighted
brands in the image, such as Pandora and ChloeKnowledge is power
“As much as I take in knowledge,I strivetogive
it back, and do so in my latest ‘CoffeeDiaries’
episode, which went live on myYouTubechannel”Luxury stay in London
“It’s no secret we love most things vintage, which
was why we stopped by the London Transport
Museum for a good old photoshoot”
ONYI MOSS