Canadian photographer calls Shanghai home 12 years after one-way ticket

Graeme Kennedy moved to Shanghai in 2014 with a one-way ticket and a plan to stay a year. Twelve years later, he holds the keys to an apartment in the city and calls it home.

Kennedy, a Canadian photographer, arrived after growing up in a 4,000-person town in the Canadian Rockies, then spending time in Thailand and London. He initially worked in marketing and creative direction for a British international school and a luxury hospitality company. The stability of that work clashed with a growing sense that China's vastness extended beyond a 9-to-6 desk.

Photography had always been his passion, a way to travel with purpose and engage with the world. He taught himself, shooting for a school newspaper and creating content for marketing departments. He never thought it could be a career. During his last full-time job, he took on photography work on weekends and evenings, but without a business, he could not legally accept payments. Launching a company felt daunting, he said, until he realized the rewards outweighed the risks.

In 2019, he started his own photography company. Early earnings were less than 20,000 RMB a month, barely enough to cover rent, food, and new camera gear. He took almost any project he could get, often for free, shooting friends' restaurants, events, gyms, and bars. The goal was not to make money right away. It was to build a portfolio, stay busy, and earn referrals. Within a year, those connections led to bigger jobs.