I’m Amba. I’ve loved making a mess since I can remember. When I was young I would ruin old clothes trying to make new ones, I wanted to be a fashion designer so badly! I wanted to try everything there was possible to create… I’d paint on my walls, cut my own hair.
I studied fine art and photography for a year, but left because I felt it wasn’t the right path for me to pursue my creative obsessions. But I left with the determination to become a tattoo artist, and spent every day drawing and drawing for months to build my portfolio in a hope to get an apprenticeship somewhere.
I soon realised that this wasn’t for me either! So for my birthday I asked for a DSLR camera and from then onwards I started photographing people around my hometown and contacting London Fashion Week producers for a chance to shoot backstage at the shows. At last I had a reply and was asked to come and work for the week reporting on the backstage and catwalk shows. Since then I’ve found photography to be where my true creative happiness lies.
Then when I was 19 I was scouted by a New York model agent online. I was baffled at the new career and life I was being offered but I threw myself into it. I have been so immersed in fashion for most of my life and this seemed like a mad dream. I was always infatuated by and wanted to be surrounded by the people who made the industry; designers, photographers, stylists, make-up artists, and hair stylists. I knew in some way that I wanted to be involved with all of it. I wasn’t yet sure where but I knew I would fit in somewhere.
Being thrown slap bang into the fashion industry has been amazing, although I am still surprised that my part has been as a model. I’d never really thought about it before but I couldn’t wait to give it my all. So far its been the best decision I have made. I really enjoy being a model and it has given me the opportunity to meet and work with some of the most creatively brilliant people in the world. I have learned so much from many talented people and this has helped me progress in my personal creative work as a photographer and artist. I couldn’t be more grateful to be in the position that I am today.
