Actress Angela Bassett, wearing a champagne-coloured dress with a thigh-high slit, leans against a balcony wall on a London rooftop, with the quiet city behind her. The striking image is the cover of Ebony magazine’s May 2025 issue. This photo was taken by Ejatu Shaw, a British-Sierra Leonean photographer. He still can’t believe he was asked to photograph one of the stars of the record-breaking Black Panther film series.
“That’s Angela Bassett. She’s like one of the greatest people in her field. … And I was chosen out of everyone in London to photograph her. And just … to be a Black female photographer photographing this iconic Black woman in this way, and to also have a team of iconic Black creators. I felt so empowered,” she told CNN’s Larry Madowo in an interview at her London studio.
Shaw has had the privilege of photographing Cynthia Erivo, Usain Bolt, and singer Craig David with Bassett, and she has also designed artwork for CDs and records.
Photographing famous people was more than just a career milestone for Shaw, it confirmed his determination to pursue a different path than his parents had envisioned. “I was…ready to study medicine. I was like a kid who was destined to become a doctor,” she says.
However, Shaw was an art lover who had always “painted and made sculptures” and wanted a career in that field. She chose architecture to balance love with her parents’ expectations of a steady income. That’s because for her, architecture “was like a halfway point.” That was until a trip to Sierra Leone, her parents’ homeland, in 2013 changed everything.
“I took these photos and edited them on my phone, and I was so happy with the final result. It felt like a work of art, and that was the real inspiration for my photography,” she recalled.
Upon his return, Shaw decided to abandon architecture and study photography. But first, she had to tell her father: “When I told him I was interested in getting a BA in photography, he walked away and cried for the first time…I knew it.”
He wanted to secure his show by getting a higher degree. But after some tears, she and her father came up with a plan that would please both of them. She attended the University of Westminster in London and graduated with a Master’s degree in Photographic Arts.
In 2025, the British Fashion Council (BFC) named Shaw one of its New Wave creatives. This is an honor that highlights the behind-the-scenes experts who shape fashion.
“It’s an incredible feeling to be on a list like that when there are so many other great creators in the industry. It’s nice to be recognized and it’s nice to be seen by so many industry leaders,” she says.
As his work becomes more widely known, Shaw uses his skills to help people cope with life’s anxieties. “I’ve dealt with a lot of poor mental health over the years, and I’ve found that using the camera as a way to express those feelings and have a conversation and dialogue with myself is such a great tool,” she says.
“I lost my father in 2020, and I went to Sierra Leone to visit his grave, because I wasn’t really around when he died. So, I was finally able to visit his grave. I was trying to understand how to deal with that bereavement, and I realized in that moment that pointing the camera at myself was very helpful,” she recalls. “Using the process of photography to act almost like a therapist is very therapeutic.”
Shaw doesn’t keep such treatments to himself. She often shares content on social media to help others learn techniques. “I found it really helpful to people that I wasn’t necessarily… yelling instructions. I was learning as I went, and I was showing off what I was learning as I was learning. People really seemed to enjoy that approach to learning,” she says.
As for the future, Shaw said she hopes to one day shoot the cover of Vogue magazine and continue teaching others.
“I’m drawn to education and I want to make photography more accessible and keep the creative arts successful. And one of the things I really want to do is go back to Sierra Leone and develop a photography degree or module or something of that nature. And continue to show the importance of these creative jobs and remind African parents that their children can pursue these things and it can work,” she explains.
Shaw said some African parents are hesitant to support a career in the arts because they “can’t really set an example of someone in their community pursuing it.” But as Shaw’s profile continues to grow throughout the art world, she’s becoming the exact role model she’s been missing. And unlike her own early experiences of entering the field “blindly,” aspiring photographers can now turn to her social media tutorials where she explains the technique frame by frame.
