The pandemic of 2020 influenced numerous changes in people’s day to day lives. Like most, I took some time to find stillness in the chaos. I thought about the goals and dreams I wanted for my life, which then resulted in moving to a new city. Most people would decide to live their dreams and move to a big city such as Los Angeles, New York City, London, or Paris; however, instead I moved to the small, California desert town, Joshua Tree. Most people don’t consider moving to the desert, especially not to find themselves. Honestly, at the time, I didn’t think the desert would have any impact on me. I thought it would be just another place I experienced. However, I quickly found a sense of feeling reborn, while also falling deeply in love with Joshua Tree.

The sheer beauty of Joshua Tree constantly had me in awe of it; from the highly unique desert plants, to the other worldly rock formations, to just the overwhelming vastness of the landscape. I wanted a way to capture it and be able to save these memories forever. I know how cliche that sounds; but I did what anybody in that head space would do, I bought my first digital camera. Just because we always have a camera in our pockets (these damn phones) it doesn’t mean we will be taking pictures of the everyday beauty around us. I figured that if I bought a nice camera that it would inspire me to go out and find more places that I wanted to remember forever.

I shot with that camera for a while and I still do sometimes. However, I had a friend while I was in Joshua Tree, who not only shot, but developed his own film. He would talk to me about the processes and all things involving film. After that, I caught the bug; I bought a 35mm film camera from a local thrift store and loaded up my first roll.

And then the rest was history..