“I grew up in a small town in Texas and I’m the youngest of 5 siblings. I have two older brothers who are in the Marines Corps and I wanted to join with them. However, my dad wouldn’t sign for me to enlist at 17. When I was younger, I always wanted to be a pilot, so my dad encouraged me to become an aircraft mechanic first and then a pilot, so that’s what I did. I got my aircraft mechanics license, after which I worked for the airlines and then I worked for corporate aviation shortly after.

A few years had gone by but I still had the desire to fly and travel. So, I looked into the military again at 22. I talked to my brothers and they encouraged me to consider the Air-force but after a little more exploration I found the Coast Guards. Once I joined the Coast Guards, I was sent on a boat where I did Search & Rescue, water way patrols, fisheries and homeland security. After doing that for two years, I was finally able to go to the school to work on airplanes for the Coast Guards, that’s when I decided I wanted to be an aircraft electrical technician to better understand how to troubleshoot aircraft electronics in navigation. So, I went to Alaska for a year and I got qualified on the C-130

Meanwhile, through the military I was starting to fulfill my dreams travel and take pictures with my phone to document everything. Alaska was my first memory of taking photographs offshore and aerial images. Quite a few people had the hobby of being photographers up there and I was mind-blown with what I saw. With that fresh in my mind, I moved to San Diego and I was working on some qualifications for the helicopter but I ended up injuring myself on a ski trip, hurting my knee and that took me out of flying as aircrew for too long to maintain my qualifications. During the recovery time I didn’t know whether I was going to go back to flying in the helicopters as aircrew. As I considered my future, the GI Bill came to mind as a great opportunity to cover the tuition cost if I wanted to pursue my education further. So, I really started thinking of what I wanted to do - whether I wanted to be a pilot or dive deeper into my creative side.

During this time I worked with my friend on a music video and that’s where I started understanding the world of photography and cinematography and I realized I wanted to be a cinematographer. The Coast Guard gave me a month or two to decide what school I wanted to apply to, so I applied to NYFA for the BFA in Photography to be able to eventually do the MFA in Cinematography.

Shortly after, the Coast Guard came back with an offer for me to work with them part time in the Reserves while I worked through school. While it can get stressful, it’s worth it and I’m still able to work on helicopters part-time. I feel challenged sometimes because I’ve thought of myself as a technical person but as I became acquainted with the craft further, I’ve realized I’m naturally creative. So, here I am studying photography and currently dabbling between still-life, nature and portraiture while working on helicopters from time to time.”