A friend in San Francisco handed Perry Hall a Canon AE-1 as a parting gift. He took it with him to Rome in 2014 and never put it down.

Perry came up through a broken home on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, juvenile detention, and two years of homelessness. Skateboarding helped get him off the street. Photography gave him a way forward.

Self-taught in Rome, he spent nearly a decade building his practice, co-founded a photography school, and developed a body of work that would later be featured by The New Yorker. Today, he shoots for brands and magazines, exhibits internationally, and teaches workshops around the world.

Now, Perry is committed to handing the next person the same key someone once handed him: access, encouragement, and a way to see what is possible through a camera.

He hands the next person the same key someone once handed him.