In the summer of 2022, I embarked on a journey to Iceland with 20 other high school students. Our focus was to study climate change through photography and science. It was an impactful and beautiful experience due to the landscapes we were able to explore. The photos in this collection range from the capital city of Reykjavik to the Glacier of Vatnajökull.
Living in New York City, I have the opportunity to take pictures of what I believe to be one of the most diverse cities to photograph. I started taking photos around the city when I was in tenth grade. My father, a professional photographer, taught me how to use my camera around the streets of New York. He encouraged me to find “the moments” that were meaningful to me. There is so much to focus on in the city, whether it’s the energetic nightlife, the architecture, or simply a person going about their daily life. In this collection, I experimented with a range of subjects while maintaining my observational perspective of them.
In the summer of 2021, my family and I went on a trip to Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming. This was the longest road trip I have ever been on. We stayed in ten hotels in the span of 14 days and drove around to see Mt. Rushmore, the Badlands National Park, Devil’s Tower National Monument, and many others. By the end of the trip, we all were exhausted and ready to return home. Looking back on it, this was one of the most valuable trips I think we’ve done as a family, bringing us closer together.
In tenth grade, I became more serious about photography and wanted to volunteer my efforts within the local community. I thought of Madison Square Park, with its diverse botany, thriving tourism, and local neighborhood shops. Ever since I was a child I have always loved visiting the park. After a little research, I reached out to Madison Square Park Conservancy and began to volunteer. Now, I take photos to capture special events, seasonal botany, and daily life around the park for the program. I donate my time and images to their marketing group, for their own promotion and to help educate people on the park.
I am a member of my high school’s film club, where we write and create films to mimic the real life production of making films. One weekend, we gained permission to use the facilities at The Clinton School as a location for a feature film. None of us had actually been to the school when it wasn’t in session and it was quite thrilling. In these photos, I captured my fellow students behind the scenes of the filmmaking process, as well as having unsupervised fun around the building.
Montauk holds a special place in my heart. Every summer my family and I travel to Montauk, NY, a popular surfing and fishing town located at the very end of Long Island’s south fork. We stay in a small beach cottage, in an area called Ditch Plains. It’s a three minute walk to the beach, where our summers are filled with surfing, bike riding, barbecues, family gatherings, and our pet dogs. These photos are from an evening on the beach, during 4th of July 2020. It was one of the first times I experimented with the manipulation of light by using long exposures.
I recently started experimenting with my new Sony RX100 iii, simply putting it in my pocket for more personal excursions with friends and family. This series consists of my trips to Europe—Amsterdam, Bruges, Brussels, Paris, and London—with two of my friends, a weekend in Long Beach, NY, and an annual Cousin’s Camp trip to Maine this past summer in 2023. This series is meant to be less serious and more of a collection of memories than the typical photograph in this website.
