Can you describe three life moments that made you who you are today?

The first would be driving across the United States. I’ve done this a few times now, driving between home in California and school in Ohio. These journeys have provided me with a taste of how vast the world is, and with each new experience my thirst to explore deepens.

My great grandparents opened a camera store when they moved to Los Angeles from Belgium, after escaping a concentration camp during WWII. I grew up visiting the store with my sister when we were young, running around the offices upstairs and playing with packing peanuts in the basement. Although the store closed before I became serious about photography, I believe that being surrounded by images and the smell of darkroom chemicals before I even knew what they were set off some urge within me.

I had horrible food poisoning on my twelfth birthday which fell on Thanksgiving, and spent most of the day hunched over a green toilet in a bathroom that smelled like orange-infused natural soap, as my mom held my hair back. In that moment of physical intensity and a lack of control over my body–my stomach sore and my vision blurry—I stared into the toilet bowl and thought to myself, “I’m going to remember this image forever.” I blinked my eyes harder than I ever had before as if taking a photograph, and I still remember the image, almost ten years later. Forcing that snapshot upon myself was the only way I felt I could regain control of the moment.

Who or what is inspiring you to make work these days?

Music, treating everything with curiosity, spending substantial time in photography sections of bookstores and libraries, learning new facts, passionate friends, supportive family, writing, and the shape of a bird fetus I found a few years ago that follows me and pops up in unexpected places.

How would you describe your aesthetic to someone who has never seen your work? What is your eye drawn to?

Words like “candid” or “snapshot” could be used to describe my work. I make the best photographs of people I am close to, primarily using the point and shoot camera I bring around with me. I take pictures of moments I want to remember, and when a moment feels honest or tender, there is a great chance it will be beautiful regardless of how it actually looks.

What went into capturing your winning image?

My friend Bowie and I were driving around LA one afternoon as the sun began to set. We passed an empty lot filled with overgrown, wheat-colored weeds that the sunlight made look like gold. I circled the block three times before finally finding a place to park and walking over to take a picture of the golden field. In the car, we had been having an intense conversation and I felt especially close to Bowie in this moment. The golden hue the field cast on her face, combined with the shadow of the metal fence, was far more interesting than the scene before us. I took a picture.

Where do you feel you are at in your creative journey?

Things are exciting. I don’t see my creative journey as linear, but rather as something that ebbs and flows. I go through phases of making work I love and phases of making work I don’t connect with. I try to make something each day, whether it’s taking an iPhone picture of a dog on the street, making one print in the darkroom, scribbling nonsense in a journal, or posting a five second video to Youtube. I feel very grateful to be able to make images, because they ground me and help me make sense of my surroundings. The world can feel abstract, and photography enables me to make it physical.

Complete this sentence: For me, photography is…

For me, photography is a compulsion.

What’s one piece of good advice someone gave you, and who said it?

My photo professor told me to think less and make more. Overthinking something before you even begin can be paralyzing, and prevent the work from ever being made. Meaning will almost always emerge naturally, through creation.

What is the most interesting thing you’ve seen, heard or experienced recently?

Today I bought a poster of two unicorns from a gift shop in a small town. It is a lenticular print—the kind that moves with you as you move around it. It’s probably the most interesting thing I’ve experienced recently because it’s really nice to look at, but also makes me kind of dizzy. I can only look at it for a certain amount of time before my eyes start hurting.

What is one thing you want to accomplish this next year?

I will be entering my final year of college this fall and am unsure what life will look like after graduation. I want to take full advantage of the resources and opportunities available to me now, while presently enjoying this time and of course, documenting it. I also hope to finish a book I’m working on.

What is one thing you hope to accomplish in your lifetime?

In my lifetime I want to exist in and help create spaces that foster creativity. Also, I hope to play every instrument I can get my hands on and make furniture.

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