For the longest time I never considered myself an artist. In fact, I didn’t think I had a single ounce of artistic talent within me. I would look at my fellow classmates who could draw or paint and I always thought to myself those are artists and I can’t do that. That was until I discovered my love for photography. Through photography I am able to take that image within my head that I was never able to express before and capture it in an instant for all to see, changing the way I view the world.

Throughout my childhood, I would look at the photos within history books and be so moved by how someone could capture such in-depth emotion and rawness through an image. This drives me to capture all walks of life so that if someone feels alone in this world, they can look at my pictures and maybe realize that someone came before them, possibly even experienced the same thing that they’re going through and was able to move past it and conquer it without letting fear overwhelm them.

If I won the $25,000 I would take that as a sign from the universe that photography is the career and life path for me. I would use that money and see if I could travel across U.S. documenting people and their live’s during these lonely and stressful times. So many regular everyday people live and die being lost to history forever. Maybe I was put here to tell the stories of the forgotten people. Maybe their stories can help future generations learn more about culture during this time.