Through My Lens

My Photo scholarship 2011 entry

Worldwide | Monday, November 7, 2011 | 5 photos

There is something unique about the ability to travel and capture the world through your lens. Someone at the same place & same time as you easily could see things very differently. I love when someone says how did you get that picture, mine nothing like that, or I've never seen that shot that way. What is even better is when you re-visit a place you have been before and see something new. With me it was Paris, and I was able to see how my skills had develop over a decade with three different trips, different cameras, and different seasons.

With each photo, each place I am, I feel like I'm creating a documentary, helping to recount that moment, or someones story. History is being made every day.....just some events are bigger than others.

Some places leave your heart filled with love and warmth while others may capture pain and sorrow, but with each one when I look back the photos bring back to life that exact day.

My first trip abroad in 1999 was to South Africa, and I brought my moms Pentax film SLR, and my first Kodak Digital camera, it is where I fell in love with photography, and experience the world like I never could have imagined. South Africa will always hold a piece of my heart.

In my travels I've seen so many people happier than many Americas, while these people have nothing but their families and many of them a job which they love. I couldn't imagine a job more rewarding and challenging than a travel photographer, but you have an opportunity to leave a lasting legacy, bring light to some difficult but important issues. I would be privileged to have the opportunity to learn from one of the best, and visit one of the most beautiful places on earth which would allow me to take that next step with my photos after I return, as I will continue to travel.