SEVENTEEN year old Tegan Rush is a photographer. She has earned her photography chops the hard way – grit, determination, a lot of nerve, honing of her skill through practice, a little bit of luck and that magic ingredient ‘hard work’.
Over the past few years she has acted as assistant to established professional photographers, she has led shoots of her own for magazines and has photographed London Fashion Week for many online blogs and designers. Bearing in mind she is currently studying for her A-levels, this is quite something.
Tegan was given her first camera when she was five years old. It was a simple point and shoot, but she used it often enough and to such effect that her parents were willing to invest in a proper DSLR (as a joint present with her brother) when she was just 12 years old.
Tegan’s parents are engineers (as is her brother now) but there is a long line of photographers running through the male line in the family. Both her father and her grandfather before him were keen photographers. She describes her father and grandfather’s photography as more down the landscape route than her more fashion and people-focused work.
Currently, the family are sifting through her grandparent’s attic and finding a treasure trove of his history through the photos that he chose to take in his lifetime…a moving and fascinating journey for anyone, but for one with such an interest in photography, the use of old cameras and printing techniques, it is a fascinating journey. (She has just talked her school into buying an old slide format camera to experiment with.)
The world of instagram is one that is an inspiration to Tegan and it can also offer up unexpected opportunities. It was through a post on that social media platform that she found herself involved in the ‘We Are Hairy People’ (WAHP) world of creativity. WAHP are a hand painted clothing brand based in Bristol. Tegan entered their world as a model, but attending photo shoots it was quickly apparent that she had a lot to offer on the other side of the camera too. A failed trip to London Fashion Week with a bunch of like- minded people was enough to light a fire under the young Tegan (she was 15 at the time). Their trip failed as they didn’t have the correct passes etc, it was dismal she explains, she knew then that she never wanted to be the person on the outside looking in, she needed a piece of that action.
Starting in the summer of the following year, Tegan went where most teenagers would fear to dread, she picked up the phone. With the ever present encouragement of her parents, she compiled a list of online bloggers and magazines and anyone who might possibly need a camera for hire at that year’s fashion week. She set about the task of phoning each and every one, many just hung up, others were rude, and yet she persisted.
Eventually she hit upon ‘Who’s Jack London’ who are a cool online blog for all things art and creative culture in London. In September she hopped on a train to London, alone. Staying at a friend of a friend of her parents in London, she navigated the underground system and the even more confusing world of London Fashion Week by herself. She knew nobody.
She set herself up in the photography pit and started to shoot – long hard days vying for space at top catwalk shows with professional, more experienced and competitive photographers, this feisty 16-year-old held her ground. At night she edited the hundreds of photos taken and delivered them to her commissioning editor.
At the end of her week she returned to her life in Frome, where she had started a new school and was studying for her AS-levels. I might add that this extra curricular work was self-financed through her part-time job.
It is rare that you would find such a driven teenager, but it would seem that little holds this determined character back. When I ask her where her self confidence comes from she credits her parents, declaring that her father gave her the technical confidence with a camera. She reminisces about her first trip to Lacock with him where he showed her the basics of camera use…and where better to start a career in photography I might add.
She also credits her mother as a driving force, a supportive force in her life who picked her up whenever she received a knock back and encouraged her to reach for her dreams (she’s had a few…one photographer who she did an internship with told her in not such a nice manner that her work was not good enough).
She also says that she is from a competitive family who are ardent cyclists (she has many achievements in that field too, one of which was competing in a race in front of Buckingham Palace) and who always insisted that even as a small girl that she order her own food in restaurants etc.
When I ask Tegan what next. She replies that she has her A-levels to consider, but that she is currently qualifying as a personal trainer. This is her back up plan she explains, just in case her daring head first approach into the creative industries doesn’t quite happen immediately.
Her intention is to go to London where she will study an art foundation course. She is keen to surround herself with like-minded creatives and top notch studio facilities to fully explore her own artistic abilities.
I ask her what her ultimate aim is…she replies “To take advantage of any opportunities that come my way, yes some will fail but some won’t and they might lead me somewhere.” When I ask what job she thinks she’ll end up doing she replies, “I’m not sure if it exists yet…maybe I’ll invent it!”….and you know, I think she just might!
Check out Tegan’s work on Facebook (Tegan Photography ) and Instagram ( @tegan.photography)
CORRECTION FROM ISSUE 494
Sincerest apologies to last issue’s Human of Frome – Saffron Van Zwanenberg. Alas, I sent the uncorrected version of her story to print. Here follows correct information about Saffron’s academic life.
“Upon her return to the UK, Saffron took up her undergraduate place at Trinity College in London and then went on to a postgraduate at The Royal College of Music. She eventually graduated at The Royal College Opera School with distinction and as a Junior Fellow.
“And correct more detailed information about the future plans for Jackdaws.
“…planning permission and funding have been secured for an extension which will see a new teaching studio built on site and an ambitious programme of workshops (over 40) delivered annually alongside award-winning (Best Classical Music Education Initiative prize won in 2016 & 2017) outreach projects which reach upwards of 6,000 children every year.”
