My journey with photography began at age nine, when my dad gifted me my first camera—a simple point-and-shoot film model. On a family trip to Mesa Verde National Park, I snapped roll after roll, unaware that I was laying the groundwork for a lifelong passion. When the film came back from the lab, my dad—an avid photographer himself—saw something in the images. From that moment on, he began to teach me what he knew: how to see light, compose a frame, and pay attention to angles and focus. His collection of 35mm film cameras became my first toolkit. All four years of high school, I immersed myself in photography classes, refining my technique and developing my prints in the darkroom. I experimented with different cameras and lenses, often working with one of my dad’s Olympus 35mm bodies. It was during this time that my work began to gain public attention, with several pieces featured in student shows and local galleries. But it was digital photography where I truly found my calling. After high school, I transitioned fully to digital and began using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to elevate my work. Over the past sixteen years, my lens has mostly been trained on landscapes—drawn to the wild grandeur and emotional complexity of place. I also shoot nature and wildlife. However, I tend to photograph whatever catches my eye, which, candidly, is my dog a lot of the time but can also be a plastic horse head in a window or the evening sun glinting through the cracks of an old barn. For several years, I lived in Crested Butte, Colorado, where my work was featured in local exhibitions, publications, and even a few ad campaigns. The surrounding landscape and wild spaces offered endless inspiration, and I felt deeply moved by that environment. I hope to return to the mountains one day. Today, I’m focused on expanding my audience and finding new ways to connect within a broader community of artists. Photography remains both a practice and a refuge for me—a way to observe the world, and sometimes, to feel more fully a part of it.