At first sight, 25-year-old photographer Tobin Jones comes across as a natural born artist. So some of his first words come as a bit of a surprise. “I was never one of those kids who fell in love with photography at age 10,” says the shutterbug casually wearing a checkered shirt and a small woolen hat that doesn’t completely cover his long hair. After finishing high school, Tobin, of American-English descent, went on an escapade to Fiji with his tiny point-andshoot camera.

That’s when he discovered his love for photography. “The rest is kind of history,” says Tobin who, once in university, bought himself a classic Pentax K2000. His most recent projects documented the life of Maurine, a transgender from Nairobi. The photo series displayed an unusually normal life for a transgender living in this part of the world. The poignant images won second prize in the 2012 Pride Photo Award, Documentary Category. Held in Amsterdam, the Award is an annual international photo contest for photos depicting sexual and gender diversity, held in Amsterdam. “I was glad she let me into her world. We can’t dismiss the fact that [people like Maurine] do exist but the question is, how many can express themselves freely?” poses Tobin.

This is typical of Tobin whose work incorporates African success stories. He explains, “Unlike the numerous images of the wars and natural disasters of Africa in the Western world, there are positive changes taking place on this continent…” Tobin refers to his style of photography as “classical” and then credits it to growing up reading magazines such as National Geographic. He says, “As I get older, my style is getting a little more edgy. I am now starting to put a little more emphasis on things like the atmosphere and mood of photographs rather than just the aesthetics making me sometimes oblivious to my photographs that are out of focus or strangely framed.”

The globetrotter is currently working in Somalia as a photographer for Albany Associates, an organization championing communication in conflict zones. “It’s a risky place to work but I am content to be part of documenting the history that’s being made by Somalia, a country that’s finally changing for the better,” concludes Tobin.