The Pictures. The Winter. The Camera.

My mother has always been the type to take pictures. She's always owned a camera. During family vacations, she would photograph EVERYTHING. She would tells us to "stand here", then "stand there" and "get closer". My brothers and I (and my father) hated it. We use to make funny faces in almost every picture. My mother would sometimes complain about not owning a single "good" picture of us. But after we would return home, she would develop hundreds of pictures and place them in albums (or boxes). Those are The Pictures that I now sit down to look at.

Years later I have come to realize the significance of a picture. The fact that each picture is a specific second captured in time. A memory in the mind of the photographer. Pictures allow a person to share what they see and how they see it. You can learn about a person's life by looking at their pictures (memories). Pictures are worth a thousand words.

Which is why I would never forget The Winter of 2005.

That Christmas, my mother received a brand new camera as a gift from my father. An upgrade from the point-and-shoot she had for a while. I don't remember what I felt or what I was thinking at the time; I just remember asking her for the point-and-shoot. She didn't even think about it and handed it to me. At first I photographed everything around the house and played with the features. Didn't think much of it.

One snowy morning I decided to walk around the city; due to a case of boredom. It would be the first time I bring the camera with me anywhere. I started taking pictures of what ever I found visually attractive. I can recall snow covered sidewalks, snow covered parks, snow covered streets and snow covered buildings. Basically, snow covered everything. Those will always be my first pictures. Unfortunately, I soon after lost the camera during a trip to New York, so I never had the chance to develop any of the pictures. Including the ones from the trip itself.

At first it troubled me. Not only was I excited about certain images I obtained, but it was my new camera. Luckily, as if the Universe stepped in, Tax season came around not a second too soon. I invested that year's tax return on a Canon PowerShot S5 IS. Little did I know that this would be The Camera that would shape my career.

That's when I truly began expressing myself through photography. The camera would come along with me anywhere I went. My eyes would see pictures in the things I saw. I was developing my work and putting portfolios together, which I still have, somewhere. When I got my first apartment, I even took a bunch of pictures I had laying around, and covered an entire wall. Seeing my work posted up was inspiring. 

Now at this present moment, years later,  I sit here and think back to those pictures, that Winter and that camera. Each one represents a moment in my life that somehow got me here, speaking to you, the reader.

Join me, on my journey, as I share my thoughts and show you and the rest of the world my point of view through my work.