Lost in a new world, I was found

My Photo scholarship 2011 entry

Colombia | Friday, September 23, 2011 | 5 photos

Lost in a new world I was found.

When a two month surf trip with a friend turned into a solo backpacking trip across Central America and into Colombia, it was seven months and seven countries later that I had not only refined my photographic vision but my vision for life.

In a world apart from mine, I hiked into the Serra Nevada in the highlands of Colombia to spend time learning the culture and photographing the life’s of the Kogi people. A place untainted by the North American mind frame allowing me to grasp a new outlook on life. The children showed me the purity in the simple things we seem to pass up back home and helped me to reconnect my true values in life. This is something that I hope to never forget.

As time past in my travels not only did my passion for capturing life through the lens become infused into me but a calling to use that passion for a bigger meaning and purpose. I have been so blessed growing up in a country like Canada and my new outlook on life has shown me a need for action and change. Imagery is a powerful and impacting tool used to convey a story or bring awareness to an area of need and it is my hope to do just that.

One thing I have come to realize through my travels is to never hold back when it comes to your passion and purpose. This scholarship would not only give me a window of opportunity for an amazing trip to Africa to refine my photographic skills and vision but the chance for great exposure and a step closer to towards living my dreams. To travel, photograph and give back to the people of this world.