Wearing a champagne-colored gown with a excessive slit to the thigh, actress Angela Bassett stands on a London rooftop, leaning on a balcony wall, with town peacefully behind her. The placing picture is the quilt of Ebony journal’s May 2025 difficulty. It was taken by British-Sierra Leonean photographer Ejatu Shaw, who nonetheless can’t consider she bought the decision to seize one of the celebrities of the record-breaking “Black Panther” franchise.
“It’s Angela Bassett, she’s like one of the greatest in her field. … and I’ve been selected out of everyone in London to photograph her. And just… being a Black woman photographer photographing this iconic Black woman in this way, and there was a team of… iconic, Black creators as well — it felt so empowering,” she tells NCS’s Larry Madowo throughout an interview in her London studio.
Along with Bassett, Shaw has had the privilege of photographing Cynthia Erivo, Usain Bolt and singer Craig David, who she additionally designed CD and vinyl art work for.
Photographing high-profile figures is greater than a profession milestone for Shaw, it affirms a choice to pursue a path completely different from what her dad and mom had envisioned. “I was… primed to study medicine. I was like the child that was destined to become the doctor,” she says.
But Shaw, an artwork lover who was all the time “painting and creating sculptures,” wished a profession in that discipline. To stability her love with her dad and mom’ expectations of her having a gentle earnings, she selected structure as a result of to her it “was like the middle ground.” That is till a 2013 journey to her dad and mom’ homeland of Sierra Leone changed every thing.
“I would take these photos, I’d edit them on my phone, and I was so happy with that final result. It felt like a piece of art and that was really my sort of inspiration into photography,” she recalled.
After returning dwelling, Shaw determined to desert structure and examine photography. But first, she needed to inform her father: “I told him I’m interested in doing a bachelor’s in photography and he went off and he cried for the first time… that I was aware of.”
He wished to guarantee that Shaw was protected and safe by having the next diploma. But after the tears, she and her dad got here up with a plan that might please each. She enrolled on the University of Westminster in London and graduated with a grasp’s diploma in photography arts.
In 2025, the British Fashion Council (BFC) named Shaw one of its New Wave Creatives, an honor that spotlights behind-the-scenes professionals shaping style.
“It feels incredible… to be on a list like that amongst… so many other incredible creatives within the industry. It’s good to be recognized and it’s good to be visible to… so many people that are leaders of the industry,” she says.
As Shaw positive factors wider recognition for her work, she is utilizing her craft to assist her deal with life’s anxieties. “I’ve dealt with a lot of poor mental health over the years, and I find that using the camera as a way of exercising through those feelings and having that dialogue and conversation with oneself, it’s such a great tool,” she says.
“I lost my dad back in 2020 and we went to Sierra Leone to visit his grave because I actually wasn’t around when he passed away. So I finally got to visit his grave, and I was trying to understand how to deal with that bereavement and I found that turning the camera on to myself in those moments was very helpful,” she remembers. “It’s very therapeutic using… the photographic process …to almost act as a therapist.”
Shaw isn’t holding that kind of remedy to herself. She usually shares content material on social media to assist others be taught the craft. “I found that people found it quite helpful that I wasn’t necessarily… shouting instructions at them. I was learning and kind of showing what I learned as I went, and that kind of approach to learning, people seemed to really enjoy,” she says.
As for the longer term, Shaw says she hopes to at some point shoot a canopy for Vogue journal and proceed educating others.
“I’m drawn to education and I want to keep making photography accessible and keep making … creative arts successful, and one thing I really want to do is develop a photography degree or module or something of that nature … back home in Sierra Leone. And keep showing the importance of these creative jobs and remind the African parents out there that… your children can pursue these things, and it can work out,” she explains.
Shaw says some African dad and mom are hesitant to help a profession within the arts as a result of “you can’t really give them an example of someone within your community maybe having pursued that.” But as Shaw’s profile continues to rise throughout the artwork world, she is turning into the very instance she lacked. And not like her personal early expertise of getting into the sphere “blindly,” aspiring photographers can now flip to her social-media tutorials, the place she explains the craft body by body.