Tobishinobi used to live a double life. By day, he worked in London as a law consultant for one of the major city banks, and by night he was a photographer, using YouTube to learn everything he needed to know about photography while scouting the streets of London for his next great shot.
Tobi spent eight years performing this balancing act, but he found himself increasingly pulled in a new direction. “I wasn’t around people who inspired me, I was no longer enjoying myself and I had learnt what I wanted to learn from it. At that time in my life photography was my therapy.”
The tipping point came at the end of 2014, when he embarked on a trip that altered his entire perspective on life. “That was when I visited Toronto, Canada. The quality of photography that Toronto was putting out on Instagram at the time was some of the best that I had seen, and that made me want to improve,” Tobi tells us. “I started thinking about what I wanted to take and how I wanted to set myself apart.” In December of that year, he quit his day job, bought himself a Sony α7 camera and started a new chapter in his life as a full-time photographer.
Almost two years later and his work has captured the imaginations of hundreds of thousands of people the world over. His photos offer a unique perspective on geometry, symmetry and clean, sharp lines - with a particular focus on the man-made structures that fascinate him - and it’s a style that’s awarded him over 123,000 followers on his Instagram account. “Symmetry is a reflection of my need for balance and fairness, which I was obsessed with growing up. It was part of the reason I did law. I have an aversion to inequality and this is echoed in my desire to balance pictures by making them symmetrical.”
In fact, Tobi’s legal experience has shaped his approach to photography in a major way. “With my background in law, I sought to always get my point across in as simple a manner as possible, meaning clients, opponents or whoever I was speaking to got what I was saying the first time round, avoiding the need for follow-up. Professionalism, people skills, discipline and attention to detail are also all transferable skills which lend themselves well to photography.
We’ve been fans of Tobi’s work for quite some time, and in April of this year we asked him to join our Sony Global Imaging Ambassador programme; the latest recruit in an already overwhelming pool of photographic talent. “It feels great to be recognised by the brand that you have always shot with. It’s nice to have Sony’s support.”
As well as wearing his new badge of honour with pride, Tobi has plenty of exciting projects in the pipeline, including a documentary called I Take Photos and plans for his first ever exhibition. Whatever it may be, you can bet it will offer a fresh new perspective of the world.
Make sure to follow Tobi on Instagram.
