“Why did you become a photographer?”
It’s simple, I could never draw, dance, sing, or play any instrument. Photography was my only choice.
However, I soon found out using a camera is more than just pressing a button.
To me, photography is a way of showing you my reality. You can have two photographers take a photo of the same subject, and there will always be infinite possibilities of what they could capture.
Here are my 10 favorite photos from my first 10 years of being a photographer. I hope you enjoy them!
“Night At Tempe Beach Park”
Whenever someone asks to see my work, this is the first photo I show them. I personally feel this image best represents my style from the bold colors, symmetry in the reflection, and sharp focus on the bridge itself. It’s definitely not perfect as I wish I captured the entire portion of the bridge in the frame, but this photo stills pops out among the rest of my work.
I often go to Tempe Beach Park at night to clear my mind and end up being mesmerized by all the lights. The deep blues contrasting with the overall brightness reminds me of “La La Land” in a way, but that might just be me.
“3, 2. 1, Let’s Jam”
This picture was directly inspired from the opening to Cowboy Bebop. I fell in love with this scene and had to do my own take on it. Getting my friend Maya to spin around perfectly to make her hair move at just the right angle wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. The hardest part about the photo was the Photoshop, but I love the how well the reds contrast with her silhouette.
“Days Gone By”
If I could retake just one photo from my 10 years of photography, it would be this one. This actually wasn’t taken on the DSLR, but the power of Photoshop helped me bring out the details.
North Car0lina is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to, and this photo encapsulates exactly how I feel whenever I’m in the mountains on a sunny day.
There’s just something about being thousands of feet up, reaching up to touch the clouds, and trying your hardest to look as far into the horizon as you can.
I’ve always felt I would make my way to the east coast after high school. North Carolina State was my first choice for college, and of course that was the only university I didn’t get into.
As fate would have it, I now reside in Arizona. It’s way different not being surrounded by luscious green mountains. In fact, there’s not a whole lot of green in Phoenix at all. My grandma always complains about it when she visits, but Arizona has its charm.
It’s been years since I’ve been to North Carolina, but whenever I think about visiting, I reminisce about this photo.
“Half”
Isiah has been a great supporter of my photography since the start. He’s often known for his style, that being his famous trench coat and swords. I’ve done about 5 photoshoots with him, but this one is the most badass if you ask me. His sword splitting the frame in half is perfect and his hair/trench coat blend into the background seamlessly.
He definitely has the eye of the tiger in this photo, and I’m glad we were able to capture all of this with such detailed focus.
“He’s got a sword!”
“You idiots! We’ve all got swords!”
“Rubber Ducky In The Sea”
Sure, it’s goofy taking a picture of a rubber duck. I took a decent amount of time to take this photo, and multiple people laughed at me while doing so.
The plastic balls representing bubbles in a bubble bath was just ingenious.
I love photos that emphasize symmetry and repetition, and this image just that. And it’s brilliant.
“Sunset Girl”
I have to hand it to Becca, she was very patient with my antics during this photoshoot. I wanted to get about 50 golden hour photos within a two-hour time frame.
I could have chosen any photo from that day for my 10 favorites, but I like the subtleness of this image in particular, if that makes any sense.
Whether it's how her dress matches the hue of the sunset or the golden shine in her hair, this photo is the best sunset photo I’ve taken.
“Serenity”
Fun fact: This was the first photo I took at dawn of that day, and it was the best one.
There are 2 small things that really make this photo stand out for me: the lone bird on the left light and the clouds on the bottom right. The symmetry is important, but I believe those two smaller details make this photo special. This photo was also the start my trend (for better or worse) of using blue.
There’s something mystical about seeing birds perched in the morning, waiting for the sun to rise.
"Rainbow Bridge"
Long exposures are a pain, but sometimes, an interruption in the exposure can lead to something beautiful. In this case, the white and yellow light streaks on the top of the bridge were from a train, when originally I just wanted the changing light on the bridge itself.
As you’ve seen, I love using vibrant, saturated colors to make my photos appear more dreamlike. Rhythm is another element I often incorporate into my photos as well, the bridge columns guiding your eyes from the foreground to the background. I’m happy I got this lucky with this exposure, because this took many many tries.
“Don’t Stop Me Now”
I wanted to include at least one self-portrait in my 10 favorites. I had just wrapped up my last semester at ASU and couldn’t have been happier in this photo.
“Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen has become my favorite song of all time and I played it at least a 1,000 times after my last final.
I consider myself to be very outgoing and joyous. I never liked the certain stigma that art has to be moody or depressing to be good.
Because at the end of the day, I just want my art to make people happy.
“I can do it! I can do anything! Just give me a chance!”
“To Reach The Impossible Star”
Almost everyone disagrees with me, but I truly believe this is my best photo.
My high school teacher always said I needed more vertical shots, although I never find my subject matter to really align with a vertical frame.
Maybe it was the setting, a mountain overlooking my university. Maybe it was the timing, as I managed to get a full 30 second exposure without any interruptions. Maybe it’s the colors. Maybe it’s the way the steps draw your eyes into the center and into the sky. Maybe it’s all of those things and more.
In a world where we can take an infinite number of photos, I’m thankful I spent the night capturing this one.