It all started in my seventh grade shop class. We had a photography week where our teacher gave us cameras and a roll of B&W film and told us to take pictures of whatever we wanted. He didn’t let us process the film ourselves, but we did get to make our own prints from the negatives. The moment that blank paper slid into the chemical tray and began to reveal the image that I had taken I was hooked.

The next year my mom bought me my first camera, a Nikon 5005, it was $400 and came with a 35-70mm zoom lens. I loved that camera and used it extensively. I took every photography class my high school had to offer, and once there were no more classes to take I began doing Independent Study with the photography teacher. She encouraged me to consider photography as a profession and I was intrigued, but I was young and unsure of what I really wanted to do. I decided it would be best if I started in a community college to give myself time to figure it out.

Fortunately one of the top rated photo departments in a community college was just an hour away from my hometown, so I began attending Daytona Beach Community College. While there I discovered so many aspects of photography that I had yet to consider in high school, and began to realize that this is the field I wished to pursue. After two and a half years I graduated with my Associate of Sciences in Photographic Technologies and my Associate of Arts in General Education and more than half of the requirements towards an A.S. in Graphic Design and Multimedia. I also had been able to attend a photographic workshop in Florence, Italy for a month one summer.

I spent the next year working in a custom printing lab and trying to decide what my next step would be. I knew that I wanted a Bachelor’s Degree but was unsure of where to go for the best education. I had heard about Brooks Institute of Photography while attending DBCC, but didn’t know much about it. I began researching it on the Internet and inquired with my professors at DBCC. They encouraged me to go for it, and the next thing I know I’m driving all of my belongings across the United States to California to go school.

In just shy of two years I received my Bachelor’s Degree and so much more than I could have ever dreamed. My time at Brooks gave me the confidence to put myself out there as a photographer and the skills to back it up. After graduation and a brief mishap in China, I am continuing my journey in Chicago where I have a job at Harrington College of Design as the Photography Studio Manager and in my spare time working on building my business as a freelance photographer.