One of my favorite things about the community we have around this show is the ongoing conversation not just between my guests, but with you, the listener. Whether it’s through my email newsletter, social media, or texting, the community we’ve built over 10+ years is real. This year, many of you asked for guests who are on their way up. Folks who have put what they've learned into action. Well, I could not think of a better show to bring in the New Year with one such guest, Paul Ninson.

Paul is a documentary photographer and aspiring Cinematographer, born in Kumasi, Ghana. He's also a long time listener of the show. Having discovered this podcast and CreativeLive as a curious and budding photographer, Paul decided to sell his phone to buy his first camera. That was just three years ago. His path from then to now is incredibly inspirational, including a chance meeting of Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York in Ghana, connecting with yours truly, and eventually making his way to his dream school at the International Center of Photography in New York where he was awarded the Director's Fellowship and George Moss Merit Scholarship.

To date, Paul's work has been featured in the World Photography Organization, and exhibited at the British Council. He was one for the official state photographers for the HRH The Prince of Wales and the HRH The Duchess of Cornwall's visit to Ghana. He has worked for various NGOs and organizations including Discovery Learning Alliance, Ark Foundation, United Nations, and many many more.

Very excited for you to hear Paul's story and I hope you get a chance to view his work. You can find him at @pninson on instagram or paulninson.com.

Enjoy + Happy New Year!

Today's episode is brought to you by CreativeLive. CreativeLive is the world's largest hub for online creative education in photo/video, art/design, music/audio, craft/maker and the ability to make a living in any of those disciplines. They are high quality, highly curated classes taught by the world’s top experts -- Pulitzer, Oscar, Grammy Award winners, New York Times best selling authors and the best entrepreneurs of our times.