My photographic journey started from my birth. My Nana, my Mom's Mom, was a brilliant portrait photographer and I grew up in front of her lens. Her house was one of my favorite places in the world and posing for her was one of my favorite things to do with her. As a young adult, I bought my first camera, a Nikon D50, and was very excited by the many possibilities it presented. Nana was so excited to share her passion with me. She was always encouraging me and doing what she could to help me. About a year before my son was born, when I got my Nikon, I started with portrait photography, but I was never quite happy with that work. I have social anxiety, so I was always uncomfortable, and it was never what I envisioned myself doing. Being neurodivergent, I feel like I have a unique view of the world around me. I notice things that a lot of people don’t, and I see from a different perspective than most. I have always struggled with my communication skills and expressing myself. Photography is my favorite way to show the world my perspective and share who I am, and it allows me to explore my creativity without needing to hold conversations. Small talk is stressful and difficult to navigate for me, so being able to express myself visually has always been my preferred form of communication. Once I discovered my passion for street photography, I quickly became fascinated with all the little things hiding on the streets; finding the same stickers on opposite sides of town, discovering beautiful graffiti art, and seeing the statements people make in public places. As well, showing how beautiful the world around us can be and how so much of that beauty gets passed by unnoticed. I’ve been especially interested in documenting statements. Both my own statements and the censorship of things people put up in public spaces to make a statement. Whether it be a business owner painting over graffiti or law enforcement taking down stickers; there’s always someone trying to say something and someone else trying to take their statements down. I fell in love with playing characters and making up stories in my fine art photography, as well as using the genre to explore themes and narratives that are important to me. I am currently in the beginning stages of photographic projects that shed light on things such as neurodivergence and chronic disability. Famously, Edward Steichen's exhibition, "The Family of Man," brought the world together and made the public see how similar they were to the rest of the world, and how similar humankind is throughout the world. This exhibition shed light on the oneness of humans everywhere. I intend to use my projects about underrepresented communities to share a similar message. People are people, no matter what their lives are like, and a majority of people forget that when they see someone different than themselves in one form or another. But each community deserves to be seen as equally important to everyone else, and equally as human as the rest of the world.