Introduction: James is a creative human being who is passionate about life and motivated to achieve his goals. We walked through the streets of Thornton Heath and talked about life experiences, inspiration, change, creativity and personal goals. He is a charismatic young man with thoughtful opinions and hopefully you’ll get an insight into his thought process. As always the recording keeps it real, so you’ll hear wind, cars, clicking and buses (standard!). This interview is a great addition to the series ‘Talking to London’, emphasising the creative diversity and experiences of Londoners. Let us and James know what you think. James has also kindly sent over a selection of photograph’s which have been highlighted below. Enjoy. Peace & Love.

Audio interview is below, accompanied by photograph’s and selected quotes. Enjoy.

James – Twitter – @FlightLordVega
James – Instagram – @FlightLordVega
Headless Flywear Website

05 – Talking to London – James aka Flight Lord Vega by Hark1karan on Mixcloud

Interview Highlights

20 seconds: My name is James and you might know me as Flight Lord Vega. I’m a photographer from South London.

1:35 min: I’ve always been involved with arts. More like drawing, painting and I’ve been doing that since… as long as I can remember. My mums got photos of me sitting at my plastic school desk.

2:44 min: It’s a great way for me to express myself…. I’m doing something that I’ve always loved doing, something artistic. I’ve found the medium I like doing it through.

3:52 min: There wasn’t so much clarity before (doing photography). Now I know where I want to go and which path I’m on, and the vision to look. There’s a vision now. I know which direction I’m going in.

5:44 min: I was working in House of Fraser for four and a half years… seeing the same things day-in-day out, that kind of suppressed my mind. Didn’t free at all. I need to escape from here and I need to chase what I wanna do. Step out of my comfort zone.

6:25 min: The 9 to 5 is not me at all. I wouldn’t be able to express myself. I wouldn’t be able to enjoy what I do.

10:30 min: Then I heard Samuel yell, ‘Oh my god that’s A$AP!’….. I was like yo A$AP let me get a shot? I was like snap! He looked over, then he looked away because he was talking to Samuel. You know what I thought this is the shot I like, him interacting with someone else. I think that’s the shot’s I prefer to be honest. Sort of capturing someone mid-interaction.

12:28 min: To be honest I’m still at the very start of my photography career. Oh yeah I’m 22!

13:33 min: We’ve all got that focus and it’s about being consistent and patient, and persistent as well. We all know we’re gonna get to where we want.

14:20 min: Know how to apply a filter to your life in terms of, know what you want in life and know what you don’t want. Once you know what you don’t want in life things become a lot easier because you learn how to filter that out, and not let it affect the positive avenues or positive aspects of your life. Be consistent as well. Consistency goes a long way. If you’re active your efforts aren’t going to go unnoticed…. Understand that someone out there is seeing your work and they’re vibin’ off what you do. Someone out there will appreciate the work you are doing.

15:34 min: You need to have a focus and you need to know what direction you wanna go in. If there’s an end goal, know what the end goal is. Not even just an end goal, or if you’ve got mini goal’s, aim for those.

15:56 min: Remain humble at all times because my outlook is, someone out there is better than you at what you do. It’s not a competition, but don’t let whatever get to your head.

16:36 min: Time is taken for granted I’d say. I think we don’t understand the value of time sometimes… It took me four years after leaving college to figure things out. Then you’ve still got people in their 30s, and 40s that haven’t figured things out…. They weren’t happy in life. I don’t want to get to that age where I’m not proud of what I’ve achieved or happy with the quality of life I’m living. Everyone wants the best quality of life. Why wouldn’t you. It’s just seeking that in every avenue. For me there’s three avenues. Your love life. Your career. And there’s obviously your friends and your family. For me once you’ve achieved all three, that’s when I’m gonna be happy…. That’s the end goal for me. Happiness. You gotta be happy with everything.

19:52 min: I want to inspire the next generation of young minds. That’s what I want.

20:30 min: You can impact someone’s life with something very small. Words. Just one conversation can change your life… I think that’s a powerful thing.

22:06 min: Skepta for example, he’s doing big things. He’s one of those people who is actually doing it for the youth… He’s bringing a lot of people with him. He’s saying your talented and serious about what you do. Come!… He’s one of my inspirations in the sense that he’s about that change and helping people progress. He’s doing it for the youth.

24:49 min: If the media want you to look a certain way, they will paint that picture of you.

26:10 min: The best thing I’ve taken away from Kanye West is persistence.

27:15 min: How can I make people go wow! How can I wow myself? For me it’s how can I amaze myself each time? That’s for me personally. I wanna amaze myself.

28:30 min: Body building and power lifting that’s one of my other interests. I’ve still got a physical goal I wanna get to. Why not be the best you can be in every aspect. So for me I’m tryna pursue a career in the creative field, I’m trying to improve my knowledge and mind.

30:56 min: I’m not gonna talk about the recipe of the pudding, I’d rather you guys wait for me to finish making the pudding. Then you guy’s can look at it, hopefully sample it and then taste it. Hopefully it’s a nice tasty five star treat.

31:47 min: The general public don’t care about plans, they care about the end result.

33:35 min: The question that comes into play is creative control. If you’re someone with a certain style, vision, you’ve gotta stay true to that. You don’t want to alter that for a quick buck.

33:56 min: If someone approaches me for work, then they’re approaching me for my style and perspective, and I don’t intend on changing that at all.

35:45 min: End goal, inspiring people to be happy with what they do and purse what they’re passionate about. And also enjoying great visuals. Great quality. For me presentation is everything. That’s something I’m working on a lot now. On how I present things….

36:44 min: Everyone’s got a different view on things. Everyone comes from a different background. Many are ashamed to celebrate that. I think you shouldn’t be ashamed of where you come from. How you view things. How you express yourself. I think it’s about getting people to be happy with themselves and with what they do. But also insuring that they deliver the best of themselves. To be honest that’s the only way society and industries can improve. The work ethic and how you deliver things.

39:00 min: The future has to be positive I can’t allow negativity to alter the goal.

Talking to London 1 – Lee
Talking to London 2 – Mahtab
Talking to London 3 – Mayur
Talking to London 4 – Alec