End of a Decade, Start of an Age

I celebrated turning 30 a few days ago. As I look back on the past decade, I can't help but reminisce. My 20s were so full of adventures reinventing and redefining who I thought I was. Along with celebrating different milestones, they were full of uncertainty and mistakes that shape who I am now. What a blessing it is to step into my 30s more sure of who I am.

The only constant I knew then that is still true today - my God is good, and He is faithful.

I love these pictures taken by my favorite non-photographers. Despite the blurriness, I remember each moment so clearly.

Left: The first picture of Tino and me celebrating buying our DTLA condo taken by Bon. Right: The last picture of me in my DTLA apartment taken by Tino.

Social Reset

Social media took a toll on my psyche this year. My sister and I utilize social media as a platform for our small business. Inevitably we tend to be on it more than we like to engage customers and curate content. We come across supportive strangers from around the world, but we also encounter passive-aggressive actions that had us saying "hmmm" 🌚🌝. We also felt ourselves sinking into this rabbit hole of seeking engagement from followers to validate our art. These were all red flags that lead me to evaluate the extent of my social media fatigue.

Not gonna lie - passive aggression phases me a lot. I can't really help how someone responds to my activity online, but I do have power over how I respond to theirs. I'm also thankful that my sister can talk me out of my thoughts and vice versa. We've found that our intuition of someone's intent is pretty spot-on, so I've been more assertive in protecting my own peace online. I actively take longer breaks and I don't weed through my notifications to see who's paying attention anymore ✌️ Self-reminder: it's ok to take breaks and it's perfectly fine to place appropriate boundaries for yourself on the internet.

Moving Chronicles was a project I did a few months ago and shared on my photography Instagram to spark inspiration because I felt that I was in a creative slump. I challenged myself to find inspiration indoors rather than 'adventuring' out. My goal was to capture shadows during sunset - pleasantly surprised at how colorful it turned out to be!

Neighborhood Nostalgia

I said goodbye to a small corner of LA that was my home for 5 years.

I took these pictures in October 2020 to try Fujifilm 400h for the first time. I finished the roll and it ended up sitting in a box for a few months. By the time I sent them out and got them back from the lab I was already in the transition of moving. Scanning through my shots I realized my day-to-day views would be a lot different.

Nostalgia hit hard looking back at my shots on film. These views are from the sidewalks I used every day to chase my dreams in LA, and the ones that lead me home to a place that was my own. A little corner with 5 years worth of memories.