When I graduated from Stockton University with a degree in history, the plan was simple: become a high school history teacher. I liked the idea of guiding students through the past helping them understand how we got here, why things are the way they are, and how much context matters. But somewhere between student teaching and submitting applications, something shifted.
That something was a camera—and Instagram showed me the artists I needed to see. The ones whose work made me want to pick up my own camera and start creating.
At first, it was just a creative outlet. I started shooting casually, emulating great photographers such as Saul Leiter, Ernst Haas, and Harry Gruyaert. . But the more I photographed, the more I realized I was not just taking pictures, I was paying attention in a way I never had before and never had I ever been so present in my life. Walking through city streets with a camera in hand made me hyper-aware of light, motion, texture, and fleeting emotion. It gave me an excitiment for life which I had not had before and something which I knew I coud not obtain in the classroom.
Soon, I was spending weekends in New York City, wandering for hours and documenting what I saw in neighboorhoods such as the east and west villages, midtown, upper east side, harlem, and plenty more. The reflections in windows, the shadows and light between buildings, the way someone held a cigarette in the cold. It became a ritual, it became life. One walk turned into a series. A series turned into a portfolio. And that portfolio led to my first internship at the Noyes Museum in Atlantic City.
That internship opened a door and I walked straight through it. I landed my first job as a social media coordinator and content creator at Ocean County College. For three years, I got to do what I loved: create. Photos, videos, stories. And now, I’m lucky enough to do the same at Monmouth University.
Looking back, choosing photography over teaching did not mean giving up storytelling, it just meant telling it in a different way. I am not standing at the front of a classroom, but I am still trying to make people feel something. Maybe it is a pause, a second glance, a thought that lingers. That’s what history always did for me. And that’s what I hope my photos do too.
