My love of photography blossomed at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Studying photography under Esther Parada and Hans Schaal, I learned how composition, light, color, shape, and texture combine to bring about an exciting image. In my later years, I began to focus on nature where I feel closer to everything. Among nature, I find a meditative state, and try to capture the vastness and the details that create visual awe or a wondrous abstract. As the master photographer Paul Strand said, "