THE ARTS CENTER OF MONTROSS

I was born in Las Vegas, NV and lived there until I was 8 years old. My father was a firefighter paramedic for 22 years and my mother is a woman of all trades, I also have an older sister. We moved to Colorado when I was 8 due to my Dad being medically retired, we moved to a small mountain town called Buena Vista.

 

My heart is still in those mountains, but the adventures and life experiences I have had are well worth me leaving them! It was in Colorado where my love of nature, wildlife, and the outdoors blossomed.

 

There were so many amazing pieces of art in nature I wanted to be able to share it with those that could not see it! My father loved to do photography in his younger years, when I expressed my interest in photography he gave me his camera. While in high school I took a photography course, learning the very basics of photography, and I loved it! After that, I took an interest in photo/video editing, which made me want to take more photos so I could learn how to edit them.

 

After I graduated from high school in 2019, I started working for a small photography business. White water rafting is a huge industry in Colorado, part of my job was to go and take photos of the families that would be going down the river, so they could have photos and the memories along with them about their trip.

 

The other part was working in the gallery and helping with merchandise. There I got to see others' artwork and creations which inspired me greatly to make my own! My bosses there took time to teach me photography basics and camera operations, so I would understand what my camera could really do and how powerful it is.

 

In October 2019, my family moved to Deer Park, Washington. It was another amazing state, although it did not have mountains, it had lakes, thick forests, and had lots of wildflowers. I still wanted to further my knowledge and skills of photography, I enrolled in the New York institute of Photography while I lived there. I graduated from NYIP on May 29th 2020. While I lived in Washington, life was very difficult there and family problems became worse than I could have imagined. I have had anxiety and depression my whole life, and due to the extreme situations, I experienced, I now have PTSD. In Colorado, I met a married couple who quickly became like parents to me, they had moved here in Montross when I had left to go to Washington. They knew how hard my life was and they wanted to help me live a better life. When I was 18 I moved in with them and their newborn baby who soon became the little brother I didn’t know I wanted! We have now welcomed a new baby boy into our family! I now have two little brothers! Moving here has given me the chance to work on my mental illness.

 

I still struggle very hard some days, but being with my loving adoptive family helps me so incredibly much.I have been here for 2 years now, I have continued practicing photography and still love it! Photography helps me with my anxiety and mental illnesses as well. It allows me to express how I am feeling. It is hard for me to talk about the wars in my head so being able to show how I feel rather than say it has helped my loved ones to understand my bad and good days more so. While living here, I’ve been learning how to live with the heavy weight of mental illness. Out of all the mountains I have hiked and climbed, this has been the biggest one yet. My family issues continued for a while then in October 2021, we found out my Dad had a rare form of brain cancer called Glioblastoma. It is a very fast growing aggressive cancer that has no cure or real treatment. My Dad passed away June 29th 2022. Photography has once again been a release of emotions for me, and you will see that in my work, you will be able to see my good days and bad days in it. So please join me on my life adventures and the little ones in between, together we will climb mountains!

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