Photography is my outlet for intellectual interpretation. I am logical and acutely aware of details, but also free enough to embrace the process of art in itself. I am not yet set in my creative pursuits, yet I see the conceptual and formal skills needed for image making at the heart of my curiosity and ability to express my human agency.

As a teenager, I pursued a keen interest in language and culture when I studied German for four consecutive years. After two years of German language study, I traveled to the south Bavarian city of Bad Tölz to stay with a local family for three weeks. The lingering language barrier instantly became less frightening once I arrived Bavaria and faced the new culture head on. This challenge encouraged my independence and supplied a platform on which I began viewing life through different eyes.

In my final two years at Arroyo Grande High School, I was enrolled in Ceramics where I claimed the title of Best in Show at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art in 2010. I entered California State University, Long Beach in the Fall 2010 semester as a Linguistics major. After spending a semester in the Liberal Arts Department, I began taking Fine Arts classes and realized I should internally transfer into the Fine Arts Department and thus began in Fall of 2011.

I learned more in that year as a foundation art student than in any previous arts education up until that point. I blossomed during the final stretch of the Spring 2012 semester, having found encouraging, artistic friends and a community of like-minded students and faculty. However, I returned home last summer as I had a lingering curiosity in the Emergency Medical Services (EMS), and wanted, prior to committing to art school to try devoting some months to emergency medical training. I began volunteering at Marian Regional Medical Center and taking EMS and photography courses at Allan Hancock Community College where I determined that photography is my long term goal, but that I am definitely interested in the boundaries of science and art.

I will begin a new chapter of study with University of the Arts London at Camberwell College of Art in September 2013. I want to not only learn more about the technical aspects of photography but the world of photographers and artists that have made footprints in the sand for this medium, past and present. I want to collaborate with other artists, giving and receiving feedback on projects to further enhance my ability to conjure, create, and critique bodies of work. The intensive peer group and challenging faculty at the University of Arts London will help me focus and develop my artistic voice. Completing my university education abroad will not only provide me with focused attention on art, but it will personally bring me out of my California comfort zone, which will certainly continue to aid me in broadening my intellectual growth. It is at this University that I hope to achieve the skills and knowledge necessary to open up a field of work to myself that I already know is mine for the taking.