Jesse Miller

My Scholarship entry - The Contrasts of Peru

Peru | Friday, November 21, 2014 | 5 photos

Be it weekends to the shore or weeks spent visiting relatives in far away states, it all began with family vacations. I would take my parents camera ransom and spend more time behind it than in front of it, usually snapping through a trips worth of film in a day. (Walt Disney World, 1998, ended up with a lot of pictures of light poles and crowded ques and much less of my siblings and my smiling faces, to the displeasure of my parents). The camera, while frequently used in short spurts, otherwise collected a thin layer of dust, only to reveal itself when we'd barrage through the attic and find the photo bin where the proof of our memories existed. It didn't mean much to me at 10, but at 25 it is one of the most powerful tools I know; my camera documenting the history of my one life. A nomad at heart, I've continued to travel, albeit graduating from the beach trips of the past, my own camera now always in tow. My pictures are a parade of memories and to win this trip would open up the potential for a living of travel and photography, memories and experiences and evidence to the existence of the world. It's a yearning to discover and my joy to share that with the world.