Through the Lens, Back to Myself

What started as a blurry skyline became the clearest part of my path.

Photography has intrigued me ever since I snapped my first photos, some of which you’ll see below. I still remember that moment clearly: streaks of light melting into the Downtown LA skyline, all because of a laggy shutter. I was in the backseat with my friend Wudh, returning from Six Flags, playing around with an Olympus C-1. It didn’t offer many controls, but it had just enough to spark something creative in me.

At the time, I was really into photoblogs. Flickr was just beginning to open up to the public, and I started following photographers whose work lit me up and shaped how I saw the world. I began taking my own photos, inspired by the images I kept coming back to. Some of those early influences are listed below with links to their websites. They’re still creating work I admire. I hope to contact them someday and thank them for how much their photography meant to me back then. Their vision helped train my eye and deepen the way I observe the world.

In more recent years, I relied mostly on my phone cameras to photograph daily life and continue developing my visual style. But it didn’t fully feed me. There’s something interesting about the tools you receive long ago. Sometimes they come back into your life right when you need them. That happened with two cameras: a Canon AE-1 gifted by my partner, and a Canon Mark II that I bought over a decade ago. It had collected dust after a photo business I once tried to start with a friend never got off the ground.

These tools sat unused for a long time. But eventually, I found myself in conversation with a part of me that kept asking what I truly wanted to do creatively. That question started to take over. I began walking my neighborhood with a camera, photographing the world around me. In the summer especially, I found myself chasing sunsets, looking for the shadows I’ve always loved and the golden light that warms me from the inside out.

The more I walked, the more photos I took. I kept most of them to myself until I joined Bluesky last year and started sharing my work. There, I found a small but generous community of photographers who encouraged me. Their support gave me confidence. I began posting regularly and making space in my life to walk and take photos with more intention.

Lately, I’ve been listening more to that creative part of myself, thanks to both inner drive and the support of my partner, who signed me up for a film development class. That class pulled me deeper into the world of film photography. There’s something tactile and patient about it that speaks to me. The act of shooting, developing, and scanning film slows me down in a good way. It makes me think more deeply about what I’m capturing. There’s a kind of magic in watching light transform into an image, as the crystals in the film react through chemistry. I’m completely taken with it. Analog things just do that to me.

Getting to this point hasn’t been without doubt or fear. For a long time, I held myself back. But something in me kept insisting I return to photography. I owe a lot to that voice, and also to my partner , and my friends , who gave me feedback and joined me on photo walks that refueled my spirit.

So here we are. I’m not sure exactly what this space will become, but for now, it’s mine. A little corner of the internet to share my photos and creative projects. If you’re on a similar path, or thinking about starting one, I hope this encourages you to listen to those parts of yourself that want to create.

I’m so glad I finally did.

More soon. I’ll be sharing some of my ongoing work as I head back out into the world, camera in hand.

Here’s a small batch of early work from the cameras that started it all: