My love for photography began at a young age. I often begged my parents to use their phones to take pictures of the sunset, squirrels on the sidewalk, people on the street, and everything else. For Christmas, when I was ten, the Instax Polaroid camera was at the top of my wishlist. At that time, I didn’t realize photography was a career option. I had decided to become a creative writer. Whenever I wrote, I searched for photos online to inspire me. I would create characters, backstories, and entire worlds from the inspiration found in a single image. I was an avid writer throughout middle school and my freshman year. According to my teachers, family members, and peers, I was good with words and an excellent storyteller. However, by my sophomore year in high school, I realized that without pictures, I wasn’t really inspired to write. Without the images to inspire me, writing was a chore. It was in my first photography class last year that I learned that every picture has a story or a message to convey, no matter the subject. This is when my true appreciation for photography emerged. Growing up, I always struggled with trying to fit in and be 'normal'. I never succeeded. Whenever I would try to be less loud, it felt like I was suffocating. Whenever I tried to be less energetic, it felt like if I didn't release a burst of energy that I would explode. I've learned through many trials, anxiety-ridden, and tear-filled experiences that normal is a myth and that everyone is, in fact, unique. Every day, I discover that it is the contrast that makes the world exciting and interesting. This is what I strive to capture in my career as a photojournalist. Using photography as my medium, I want my lens to capture the smiles of brown people against the gray of a metropolitan city. I want to exhibit the depths of sorrow in the dark hues of blue and catch a splash of sunshine yellow to convey the brightness of the human spirit. Highlight the significance of the shadow as a mother weeps over her child's body and captures the beige sand being kicked up by soldiers fighting a war in the desert to preserve their culture. In the next phase of my education, I hope to develop a deep appreciation for the uniqueness of the human experience. I want to learn from thought leaders and experts who can relate to my voice and curiosity and help me develop it. Meeting new classmates, friends, and professors will help me understand more about myself through similarity and contrast, and I will seek to understand them as well. I believe college is the place where every generation has the opportunity to shift those pre-established boundaries set by the previous generation. I want to hang a degree on my office wall with pride, recalling my college experience as a time when I became more of myself and that my unique presence on campus recolored every space I entered. I will carve out my own unique space in the world. One word, one shot, and one shutter of my lens at a time.

I chose photography as my art form because I loved how raw and real everything is, how one snap captures a moment in time forever. For generations people have displayed the best and worst parts of human history through their photos, giving the people of the present and future something to look back and reflect on. I want people to see my photos and be inspired, reflective, and comforted. I want my photography to be used for healing most of all. I want to be the start of a movement where people look at, not just my art, but all art and find a message that they needed to hear. I want people to look at art and see themselves in a subject, and I hope that one picture can be all it takes for someone to remember who they are, their purpose, and their worth. Using photography as my medium, I want my lens to capture the smiles of brown people against the gray of a metropolitan city. I want to exhibit the depths of sorrow in the dark hues of blue and catch a splash of sunshine yellow to convey the brightness of the human spirit. Highlight the significance of the shadow as a mother weeps over her child's body and captures the beige sand being kicked up by soldiers fighting a war in the desert to preserve their culture. I want my art to be a call to action. I want it to start the revolutions that need to happen, and be the warm balm on everyone's hearts when the world gets too heavy.

I believe we each have an opportunity to paint the world and bring it to life with color. We start out with a blank canvas, and over time we add texture and color through our experiences, our feelings, and the relationships we build. So many different brushstrokes Each element builds an understanding of the brilliance of this world. I haven’t always understood this. For the majority of my eighteen years on this planet, I was trapped in a singular pursuit of sameness. I recognized myself as socially awkward. The words "average," "normal," and "ordinary" never seemed to apply to me, which is quite tragic considering that’s all I wanted to be. From my limited point of view, ordinary people had friends, never felt ashamed of who they were, and were the standard. I wanted to meet the standard. Fitting in felt safe. There’s a story my mom often tells about the exact day she knew I was anything but "normal." As she tells it, I was coloring, using as many colors as possible. The page was scribbled all over, and I had completely ignored all of the bold black outlines on the page. My mother suggested and eventually coerced me to "color inside the lines," but I couldn’t seem to do it. No matter how hard I tried, colors were purposefully scribbled outside of the thick, black borders. She told me she almost cried because she associated my refusal to stay within the lines with future academic challenges. She quickly pivoted and came to terms with the fact that I was "strong-willed." She saw me as a person who came to this world to draw my lines outside of the confines of pre-established norms. She understood that I wanted to color wherever I pleased. Although she told the story often throughout my life, I never truly heard it until recently. Maybe if the story had landed differently, I would’ve been less obsessed with normalcy. Maybe I wouldn’t have felt like I had to conform or create a new personality every time I met someone new. I've learned through many trials, anxiety-ridden, and tear-filled experiences that normal is a myth and that everyone is, in fact, unique. Every day, I discover that it is the contrast that makes the world exciting and interesting. I find it sad now that this was the contrast I used to run from. I tried blending into the shadows instead of embracing the menagerie of colors in my heart. I thought, if I made myself gray, people could see me as any color they wanted me to be. I would just be happy that they approved. I was so focused on trying to blend in, I lost sight of everything else. I went from being a straight A and B student, to having a 1.8 GPA in my freshman year. Covid didn’t help, as it only discouraged me, and the people I had worked so hard to appease still ended up leaving me behind. When I returned to school for my junior year, my GPA was 2.0, weighted. I had no motivation, I felt alone, and didn’t feel the purpose of trying. However, I discovered photography. I discovered what feels like my purpose in life. And now, as a Senior, I have a 3.8 GPA, and a cumulative GPA of 2.6. I have true friends, and I feel excited to wake up every morning. In the next phase of my education, I hope to develop a deep appreciation for the uniqueness of the human experience. I will carve out my own unique space in the world.