Live in the moment. It's really simple. When you are thinking too much in the future or too much in the past, you lose what's happening around you. The older I've gotten, the more I've realized that it is important to enjoy the moment and sink into the present. As my great uncle always says, "The future is an illusion and the past doesn't exist". My uncle is the wisest man I know. He studied Kabbalah for 20 years and this is just one of the many truths he has bestowed upon me, but I carry it always. If you live for the moment, it's much easier to enjoy. Don't let life pass you by; be present.

It's all about getting the creative juices flowing. Please enjoy some of my improv, laying down a tasty horn line with two very important people in my life: My dad on the keys, and my old camp counselor on the drums. For the three of us, music is a very important part of our lives and this was a reunion like no other. Good people, good music, and good times. Stay creative.

I am a passionate artist, photographer, jazz saxophonist, and I have some experience with painting and poetry. In college, I studied drawing, design, and completed multiple independent studies in photography. My areas of focus consist of landscape, architecture, nature, and design; I aim to have a broad portfolio and push myself in multiple directions as an artist. Photography is my escape. Throw on in some earbuds, some shades, and explore. From bustling cities to quiet wooded areas, it’s me the camera, and some music. I look for geometry in nature: shapes, lines, symmetry, and texture in everything around with me. Photography is about saying so much without opening your mouth. Sharing a unique perspective on the world or making a comment on society, nature, and form with no words at all. Capture the heart, mind, soul with the simple click of a camera. It takes an eye, subtle understandings of light, contrast, and composition, and a passionate will to explore the world in order to truly push yourself. Like anything else, photography takes practice… anyone can click a camera, but I have spent hundreds and hundreds… probably over a thousand hours tuning my craft. Looking at the world with a critical and analytical eye is something that comes naturally after spending well over an hour with micro adjustments that 99% of the population would not even recognize. I pour myself into what I do; and I get so much in return. Photography has been there when no one else was by my side. I was tortured in college by one of my roommates. Every single day. It started as harmless disagreements and disrespect over personal space, but grew into something far more deep-seeded and malicious. One day, my roommate was complaining about something academic and inconsequential and threw out a gay slur. I could not sit by and listen to him any longer. I told him this was unacceptable and that I wouldn’t listen his hateful, bigoted slander just because he felt like venting. He didn’t like that. Over the next two years, I spent hours in the woods, crying alone, in my room wearing sunglasses and blasting rap music, to drown out the pain. I got in countless streaming matches with my social worker, who didn’t believe that kids could be so cruel. My own mother didn’t know how to help me. I was alone. On an island. This roommate spread a rumor about my sexuality in the most hateful of ways. Before long, I had packs of people following me to class, standing outside my door, ridiculing my every movement. Photography was where I would go to escape. Headphones, sunglasses, and hundreds of acres of woods just a few hundred feet from my dorm are how I coped with the pain. Lonely walks in the forest listening to jazz, blues, rap, gospel, and soul music helped me get through the day. No one could hurt me when I was looking through my lens. Even in a better place, photography has remained by my side, held me up, and taken me higher. In the last month, I have been selected to show at two gallery, exhibitions with many professional photographers. Life has never felt so good. I want to share my gift with the world, continue to live with a curiosity, looking at the sky with a sense of wonderment. I want to use my art to make others as happy as it has made me. Dealing with prejudice slander, public ridicule, and a mental health struggle, I am beginning my mission to support and protect those who are suffering with from abuse as a social worker. I was awarded a merit scholarship to attend NYU’s Silver School of Social Work, despite my own traumatizing experience, related mental health struggles, and a severe traumatic brain injury that resulted in a subdural hematoma. Without the necessary support, many people will not find this strength within. I want to be the person to be there for that tortured kid who feels like he’s on an island. Let him know that he’s not alone. Art has been an escape for me and I know it can be a healthy escape for others. As a mental health counselor, I will look to inspire and encourage those who are in pain to release their emotions in art. It is cathartic, therapeutic, and revitalizing. Art will set you free.

Cute and cuddly boys... cute and cuddly. Otis the Papipom, Buddy the Beagle, and Julie the Golden. What a fantastic crew :) They each have their own quarks and can get under your skin, but this bunch is lovable and adorable. Unfortunately, Otis is no longer with us. His gorgeous mane and stylish spirit live in puppy heaven. There are not Coyotes up there Oatsman. RIP

We explored the lava covered terrain of a landscape only to be described as something out of natural geographic. The four of us pulled over on a drive back from the black sand beaches to Reykjavik, taking a slippery walk behind this magnificent waterfall. Thunderous churning, misty air, and even a glimpse of a rainbow towards the end. Recently selected by a professional juror to be displayed in a gallery exhibition. @Tyga.The.Creative Being bold is about standing out. The second image is a picture of standing out and being yourself. This truly captures the artist within. @Tyga.The.Creative