When I was a kid, I loved to read and write. I also liked to take pictures. What I would call documenting, more than a really creative pursuit.

Then, in high school, I was on a summer group choir trip. My two friends and I were staying with a host family that lived right on the Great Lakes in Michigan. In the evening, we went for a walk along the shoreline and enjoyed a phenomenal sunset.

It inspired me. I told my friends – stand there, turn toward each other. I ran down the beach a ways until I found a suitable frame, and I snapped one picture with my 1991 point and shoot film camera.

Something ignited in me that day. I took the step into creative photography and the beginning of my journey into visual arts. Of course, simply documenting has value. But I learned something that day, that I find is the backbone to all my work: It’s all about making choices. Setting up your image. Choosing your composition. Picking the good shot and throwing out the rejects. Make choices. Tell a story with your choices. Do things with intention. But sometimes, paradoxically, that can mean following your gut vs getting too analytical about every choice. Riding the waves between logic and instinct and back again.