I've photographed a lot of things over the past couple of weeks, but I think my favourite of all has got to be the Trans Pride South West march, which took place in Bristol yesterday. If I'm honest, I wasn't so much "photographing" as 'there with my camera and wanting to get some good photos to mark the occasion!' And I'm so glad I was, because it was incredible.
These days it feels as though I don't always get to connect with my community; life is so busy at the moment that I'm usually either working or resting, so unfortunately I've fallen pretty behind with going to trans/LGBT+ oriented events. So not only was it amazing to reconnect with the trans community in a general sense, it was also fantastic to be in a trans space that was so energising! I've never been in such a big group of trans people and trans allies. Being part of the crowd, shouting and chanting about our right to live, was one of the most empowering things I've done in a long time.
I really hope I'll continue to engage with trans spaces a bit more over the next year. Even if I don't get much time off work, I'd like to hope that in my photography I'll be able to work with more clients who are trans or gender-variant. I think I've tried to make it as clear as I possibly can on here that I'm an LGBT+ photographer, and I'm hoping that will lead to more opportunities to work with LGBT+ people! Most of the services I tend to use these days are queer owned or very queer friendly, and I'd like to hope I can provide a similar service to my community with regards to photography!
Relatedly: if you were at the march and would like to use one of these photos I'd be really happy to send you a web-sized version. You're very welcome to post my photos on facebook or instagram or any other platform you use, provided you credit Nicky Takes Photos in the description. Equally, if anyone feels uncomfortable of having a photo of themselves at trans pride up on the internet, please let me know and I can take it down. You can get in touch here if you want to ask me about any of those things! :)
