Photography has changed the author's life in profound ways. What started as a dislike of his father constantly stopping to take photos evolved into a passion and addiction of his own. He began with a GoPro at age 12 but soon wanted to do more serious filmmaking. Getting his first DSLR a year ago allowed him to capture stunning landscapes during trips and make videos, fueling his drive to constantly seek new locations. Most impactfully, a photo he took in Olympic National Park gave him an epiphany about the power of photography to document life experiences and open new opportunities. Now photography provides a sense of adventure and fulfillment that structures his daily life around sunrises, sunsets, and never-ending creative pursuits

1. How Photography
has Changed my Life
I have been around photography since I can remember. My father always carried his DSLR
everywhere we went, making every spot a new location for him to take a shot. As a young kid it
was easy for me to hate photography, it felt like whereever I was, whenever it was, my dad had
to stop and take a photo of me or the surroundings. But then I became that guy.
The addiction started 4 years ago. Like many twelve year olds, a GoPro was the coolest thing to
have. You automatically felt like an action sports star with it. I began to use it for everything,
swimming, hockey, night-lapses, and the fun of it became to “amateur”, I had begun to grow
out of it. It was still fun, but I wanted to do something larger. Ultimately I loved filmmaking and
thats where a fun thing became big.
I got my first DSLR about a year ago. I had been using an old one of my dads for a while, but it
didn’t take videos and all I wanted to do at that time was- make videos. I had been watching
Youtube, watching Casey Neistat, Ben Brown, Devin SuperTramp, and I thought, I want to be
like them. I looked at photography as easy, I believed that the whole idea of it was amateur. To
me, filmmaking was so much more complex. In many ways, it is. Logistically filmmaking is a
nightmare, with trying to set up shots, set up the editing process, find actors, and ultimately I
thought that was cool. I began to make more movies, go more places, and ultimately in the
middle of Olympic National Park, I became the photography addict I am now. What I realized
then, that I had been missing was that filmmaking wasn’t necisarily different then photography
at all. The process of telling the story was different, but the actual process the meaning into it,
was exactly the same. The only difference, was the immediate satisfaction. I could take the
picture, then check it and realize I had created or rather captured something that was amazing
and I loved that feeling.

2. After being up and around Olympic for two days my dad and I were driving back to Seattle to
catch our flight and got to this straightaway. I remember getting out of the car, running into the
middle of the road and almost staring down the road in astonishment. If I had never picked up a
camera, I wouldn’t have even been in that road. I wouldn’t have even been in Olympic National
Park. Filmmaking drove me to that location. Taking that picture, and having that epiphany has
taken me everywhere since then.
Above all else, if you’re doing photography the right way, its an addiction. Its a drive thats so
unique only those apart of it get it. Any chance or hope of sleeping in, or going to bed early is
whipped away. Your body lives by the sunrises and the sunsets and for some, by when the Milky
Way rises. It’s an incredible feeling to be up and ready for the sunrise. Through the countless
sunrises I have seen in the past year, it never gets old. It’s the silence before sunrise that often
shocks me. This almost simple state of nirvana that is nearly impossible to replicate with the
exception of nirvana itself. To be able to catch these moments is what makes it so great.

3. I look at photography as a dream now. A future that seems to fun, to crazy to even be a
profession. But thats how its supposed to be. Its not easy to wake up at 4:30 on a Sunday. But
when it entails catching sunrise and getting a shot, then its easy. Photography ultimatley is so
addicting because its so fufilling.
It’s this immediate sense of adventure and capturing that fascinates me and is what keeps me
coming back to this art form. If theres one thing I have learned from it all. It is to never stop
creating.
I look at all my experiences over the past year and I am baffled. Photography is something that I
live for now. A camera is always in my car, and ultimately an adventure is always awaiting.