Tonight, I had the honor of speaking about my life and career in photography at the National Art Honor Society ceremony at my alma mater, Boardman High School. It was incredibly inspiring to see so many students SO passionate about art. Never lose that spark, young artists! You'll change the world someday! ✌🏻❤📷🎨
I wanted to share my speech with you all. An excerpt:
Pirouettes
"My experience here also taught me to make mistakes, because sometimes, those mistakes turn out to be happy accidents instead. I remember one day in the darkroom, my teacher Mr. Fecik spotted an 8x10 I had just processed. It was blurry to the point where the subjects - little girls in school uniforms - were unrecognizable. I was disappointed, but he held up the image for everyone to see - i was horrified. To my surprise, Mr. Fecik simply said: This is art. He saw my photograph for what it was, not what it was supposed to be. I called this photograph Pirouettes, as it looked like dancers spinning in motion. That photograph would be the capstone of my portfolio that went on to win a Gold Key from the Scholastic Art Awards during my senior year."