Photography in the last few years has been almost everything to me. It gave me a voice when I didn’t have one. It gave me sanctuary when I needed it and it gave me a connection to the world around me when I didn’t understand it.Â
My progression and love for photography began back in the 2011 when one of my dearest friends, Nico moved back to San Diego from Seattle and when he came back, he brought a camera back with him. At the time when he came back with a camera, I didn’t understand photography and what it was all about. All I knew was that I would only take pictures to just make memories. Once Nico came back with a camera, he would always bring it him whenever we would hang out and then one day, he let me play with his DSLR andafter taking a couple of random pictures, something ignited within me and right there and then, I knew I had felel in love with photography.Â
Once I learned that I liked taking pictures, I pushed on ahead and started taking pictures wherever I would go. Going into my senior year of high school, I took up AP Photography and for the first few weeks, I would use my mom’s old point and shoot to take pictures. Unfortunately, it died on me unexpectedly and then I invested into my first DSLR which would be a Canon EOS Rebel T3. After getting a hold of my first DSLR, I started learning all the basics of my camera which included aperture, shutter speed and iso and I told myself that I wanted to master it. Going into my first year of college, I would go on photoshoots wiith Nico and we would shoot together on a weekly basis. I first started out taking portraits for the first 2 years. I wanted to find my style in portrait and shooting portraits taught me to appreciate people for who they are since they have a lot of value to offer and I didn’t see that until I started doing that. For me I also I like to bring out a persons personality in a lot of shots so, i can give me the audeince a better understanding of where the person might come from. Once I found my style in taking portraits, I moved onto taking pictures of landscapes and I became inspired to take pictures of landscapes by all the  different kinds of places people were going and that also inspired me to travel around a lot more. One of my favorite hobbies asides from taking pictures is exploring new places that I’ve never been to before. After awhile, I started combining both landscape and portrait and now I currently shoot landscape portraits where I’m capturing not onl the subject but also the subjects surroundings as well. I’ve been shooting for nearly 4 years now and I’m still continuing to push my craft as far as I can.Â
What motivates me and inspires to go out and shoot are my friends who are also into photography and the photography community on instagram. instagram has been a great platform for a lot of people like myself since there’s always an endless amount of inspiration on there.Â
One of my goals for my photography in the future is to hopefully shoot for clients such as Nike, Northface, Adidas as well as for newspapers and magazines.Â
Along the way, I’ve had numerous amounts of influences and I can proudly say that my influences are one of my closest friends who are also into photography. Without these people, I can honestly say that my style and my game would not have manifested to where it’s at right now.Â
The first person that’s been a very important influence on my life and in the game of photography is Nico Villanueva as previously mentioned. I’ve known Nico since we were teenagers and he was the person that inspired me to take pictures and really push my work to where its currently at right now. He became the foundation for me by teaching me how to master the shutter speed, iso and aperture as well as teaching me how to find my own style. Without him, I bellieve picking up a camera would be the last thing I’d ever do.Â
The 2nd persons that’s influenced my work along way has been Charles Guinto. I met Charles a few years ago through mutual friends and after having a conversation with him about photography, he taught me that consistency is what separates you from the rest. That hard work and resilience overcomes the ability of being talented. Without him, I wouldn’t have been as inspired to take pictures of anything that caught my attention.Â
The 3rd person that’s influenced me is Erik Sena. Like Nico, I’ve also known Erik since when we were teenagers and he taught me the business side of photography. He taught me how to brand my own work and make it your own and how to assess yourself with other people in different situations. Without him, I wouldn’t have had the ability to branch out and work with different people of all different backgrounds and ethnicities.
The 4th person that’s influenced my work is Kingsley Ramos. I met Kingsley at SDSU in a coed community service fraternity that I pledged for called “Alpha Phi Omega”. After crossing over into Alpha Phi Omega’s brotherhood, he taught me a lot about giving back to my community and to others and that you should share your passion with everyone around you and help everyone around to be the best person that they can be. He also taught me that change and being radical is a normal and necessary if you want to help yourself get to be where you want to be whether it was in photography or in life. Without him, I wouldn’t have been inspired to inspire others and help others get to where they need to get to.Â
Lastly, the last person that’s had a dear influence on my work is Helen Koh. I met her at a photography instagram meet up 2 years ago and one of the things that I was able to take away from her was her outlook on photography. she taught me to appreciate each pictures perspective for what it was whether the context was either positive or negative and that all these experiences make up for who you are at the end of the day. Without her, I wouldn’t have a deeper understanding for the world around me.Â