Born and raised in Guam, I’ve always had the curiosity of what lies beyond the horizon. It has led me to be more observant and curious about the world. Nowadays, I reside in Oakland, CA where I’ve become a part time photographer while working as a Sous Chef at Pixar Animation Studios.

I was first introduced to photography in college. My first camera was a 35 mm Canon TX. It had a broken light meter, minimal functions, and was built like a brick. But the first time I loaded it with film, advanced it, and clicked the shutter button, that was it for me. I was hooked. Staring through the viewfinder, framing, and capturing, felt like I was telling a story. However long, 1/60th, 1/125th, or 1/1000th of a second, it all became memory burnt onto film. Light, time, and a chemical reaction.

Street photography was the first category with which I fell in love. I find that the streets materialize all kinds of compositions of color, light, shadow, and shapes. Color photographers such as Ernst Haas, Harry Gruyaert, and Saul Leiter have influenced my street work. Nowadays, my professional focus is on event and portrait photography. I’ve taken the skills that I have acquired as a street photographer and applied it to my current work, which is photographing fleeting moments in time worth saving.