This album is dedicated to the everyday people, places, and moments that we often take for granted. In the hustle of balancing personal and professional responsibilities, we can forget the significance of life’s small but essential gifts—like fresh food, clean water, and the freedom to express our authentic selves.
Recently, I came across a motivational quote on Instagram that deeply resonated with me: “You can always have more, but you can always have less. Be thankful for what you have, because someone out there is wishing they could live your life right now.” This perspective reminded me to slow down and appreciate the simple, beautiful aspects of life that inspire my work and fuel my creativity.
"Tell Me Your Name, Without Telling Me Your Name"
I wanted to start off this album with a photo of myself taking a shower after getting the opportunity to hang out at the barbershop with my favorite barber & friend Victor for our normal "boys talk" and my rejuvenating haircut. When I got home I felt so refreshed to have my haircut that when I took a shower it reminded me how I take for granted this amazing comfortable shower that comes with fresh clean water. My Environmental Science class is teaching me how much water we waste or how we may run out of it in specific areas in the world, so we need to cherish and treat this precious resource with respect. What more could I really ask for to be the icing on the cake to help me start or end the hard working days.
This photo also helps show some of my tattoos off, particularly my moon made of roses tattoo on the middle of my back. When I got this tattoo I felt like it was a way of embracing my name and the powerful role the moon plays on Earth. It also in my mind was a symbol of strength in a different form that most people do not seek strength from. When I designed this tattoo I thought of "tell me your name, without telling me your name." #king_luna
"Happy Birthday Dude!"
This year 2024 is my second time hosting a birthday party for myself. After all the shenanigans is over with, I always love to go have a nice dinner out somewhere with my close friends here in Las Vegas. I found myself taken for granted this year the fact that I even have this opportunity to do anything I want and celebrate whatever way makes me happy. With everything going on in the world I was forgetting how truly blessed we are in our county to have this freedom to choose.
Gangnam Asian BBQ is a Korean BBQ restaurant that is super good! They have all you can eat options as well as a la carte. You get to cook the food in front of you so when I first came here 6 years ago I was blown away! My family typically only showed me to eat very basic American food and mostly Mexican food. To have the power of choice to do what I please and try new things reminds me that this something I should never take for granted. #CelebrationOfLife
"First Things First"
This was part of the first photos I took for the first time we were required to take a 100 photos in a week in PHO-101. I did not really know what I was doing at the time other than rushing around to play "catch-up" and get my assignment submitted. To my surprise Professor Protz gave me positive feedback on this photo, "I am enjoying the drama captured in this image. The dark to the beautiful sunset is working visually and emotionally."
So when we were given an opportunity to do advanced edits to photos we have taken this fall 2024 semester I knew I needed to go back and correct my "taken for granted situation." I took for granted the power I have to be successful and create nice photos. It reminded me to be proud of what I am producing and give myself time to keep growin' & gettin' betta' with my art. #Believe
"Getting Interested"
This was part of the second week of getting back into the photography game/college. I took a year off of school because I needed time to self-reflect and look inwards on how to guide myself through the obstacles I was trying to overcome at the time. I felt I had lost myself for a while since I was going through a bad breakup and had to move back to my hometown in Phoenix, AZ for 8 months before moving back to Las Vegas June of 2023.
Playing with just this basic edit of a picture I took while I was in the carwash reminded how I have forgotten and taken for granted the soothing power of a photo. #UnexpectedPlaces
"Rose at First Sight"
When I first got my right hand tattoo of my sacred heart I was so in love & happy. As time started to pass after all my tattoos in general I started to take for granted the blessings, tears, and hard work put behind every tattoo meaning & design. Behind every tattoo is a story that speaks the words I feel internally and I have struggled throughout life being able to speak it out loud.
The sacred heart reminds me of the strength & power of our hearts and the ones that have passed away. It reminds me that even though my loved ones have passed on, their lessons, strength and love live on through me that make my sacred heart able to stay whole through any obstacles. #iWishYouRoses
"Respect, trust, and THEN love"
When I was pondering to myself about why I do not take Loki for granted I think of the lesson he has taught me about starting a relationship by gaining respect first, than you start to gain trust, and eventually love. In that order he has now grown closer than he has ever been to me. He used to only bark at me when I came home compared to now where he is jumping up and barking for joy of my presence. Thank you Loki for reminding me to slow down in life that everything does not need to be done in every direction at 100 MPH. Be thankful for the moment I am in and remember that there is love and inspiration everywhere.
He reminds that it is okay to stay home rest and relax; enjoy and embrace the comfort of our home. #DutchPup
"NRG (Energy)"
Lately I have been filled with a lot of different emotions that it has been causing stress and burn out. My dog Odin reminded me that I am taking for granted him and not embracing his joy to be active. Rather it is playing with this doll "Baby Bear," going for a walk, or playing catch with his favorite ball he reminds me how much fun it is to be active. He makes me feel not alone because someone loves to do all the same things I do to try to be healthier. He is loyal, sweet, kind, caring, full of energy and loving!
He reminds me that I am too all of those things and need to embrace more of what makes me who I am too. #king_odin
"Sense of Security"
This photo is from the parking lot of my work at the USPS location down by the airport off of Sunset Rd. Lately I have been finding myself so annoyed and not wanting to be here mostly because of the people that work here that are either lazy or just flat out disrespectful. I found myself getting caught up in the moment of everyone’s drama.
One day I got out of work after thinking about what my professor encourages us to do “take photos of whatever, you never know what might work later.” After getting home to preform some advanced edits to this photo, this is what I came up with. It reminded me to invest more time into my art since it made me feel better seeing what I can do now compared to before. I also needed a reminder not to take for granted my job security at a federally employed facility that can allow me to transfer to any USPS anywhere in the USA & Puerto Rico. “Be thankful for what you have and work for what you want and need.” #LifeIsWhatYouMakeIt
"I Wish You Roses"
For my birthday I received these roses as a gift this year 2024. If it is not clear already, I LOVE ROSES! I played with advanced edits to enhance the reds and shadows. You can see the cupcakes in the background that I picked instead of a cake this time since there is still a portion of cakes in my opinion that always seem to go to waste in the end.
Red roses always remind me of love and strength which I felt a lot of this year for my birthday! I also share the same birthday as my friend Oscar aka Oscarito so we have celebrated together the past 2 years which in itself has been a very fun and unique experience. You can share the same birthday with anyone, but when you can share mutual love and respect too makes the experience all that much better. Thank you Oscar for reminding me to not take my friendships for granted and to put more time & effort into helping them grow. #FriendsAreFamily
"Curiosity"
Within the past month on my days off I have been taken my dogs out for a ride with me to Dutch Bros for coffee. I normally would not before but I started to realize that I am taking my dogs Loki (lighter) & Odin (darker) for granted.They are already going to be 7 years old and are not getting any younger, nor am I. So I told myself to make more memories with them and show them how much I trust, love, cherish, and respect them.
On our way for coffee I could not help but adore how cute this looked in real life and wanted to try to capture the moment since tomorrow is not promised for me or them. #PupPups
"Luna + Luna=Date Night"
For the past 5 years I have worked for UberEats part-time in the Phoenix & Las Vegas areas. Throughout that time I have had the chance to learn about new stores for food, desserts, coffees, etc. I found this place, Scoop LV, on one of my pickups one night and was instantly in love! I loved the details in the ice cream shop like all the brightly painted characters (i.e. Crusty the Clown in a robot suit from The Simpsons TV Show.)
After visiting I told my roommate about it since he is more familiar with this style of ice-cream/food. He encouraged me to try the Oreo ice-cream sandwich with the green tea macaron and “That Purple Shake Everyone Loves.” Let us just say I signed up for the reward program to get points on all my future purchases LOL (Laughing Out Loud!) It reminded me not to take for granted trying new things because you never know what you'll end up enjoying in the process. #DessertRewards
"I Can Make My Own Family"
I am born and raised in Phoenix, AZ and moved to Las Vegas officially September 18, 2018. When I moved here I moved here alone with no family other then 2 friends I had made when I was visiting LV a lot prior to my move here.
Fast forward I have met so many people throughout my time here and joined a team called the LGBTQ Volleyball Group in May of 2019 that meets 2 to 3 times a week at Sunset Park to play volleyball in a group of 20 or more of us normally. I was taking for granted the blessings of having a wide variety of close friends from this group who have become my chosen family.
This photo is of my friends Oscar (can see his face at the front of the net) and Robin (see his back at the fnet) getting ready to face-off at the court with a hit and block attempt. The edits done in this photo were to enhance the intensity of what is going on in the photo. #VolleyballFam
"Never Forget"
This a photo of the club that hosted an event called AFAN (Aid For Aids of Nevada.) This is the celling of the club that is filled with a bunch of screens that were displaying the logo, videos, photos, and screen effects to the music playing. I went to support this event because I have a family member who passed away from having AIDS. If you do not know the difference, basically, when you have HIV you are able to help your body control the virus through once a day medication for the remainder of your life so you can still live a normal healthy life. With AIDS, it is pretty much the final stage before death which normally you would have to be not taking your medication to get to that point or other factors could be at play too.
Nonetheless I will never forget the love, kindness, and joy you brought Tio Bobby. You remind me to stop taking for granted my small acts of kindness, even if there are no tangible rewards, the internal rewards are even better.
"Follow the Natural Flow"
One evening after work I stopped by one of my favorite pizza joints, Blaze Pizza, that lets you watch the pizza creator make your dough and build your pizza from start to finish in the big brick flamed oven. Afterwards, I figured I should stop and get a carwash since I was already in the same plaza as the pizza joint, which would also allow me to eat a slice of pizza while I waited for the automatic touchless carwash to work its magic. #2For1
During this time I found that I had been taking for granted how lucky I am to have a nice phone with an awesome camera attached to it. I had been practicing taking more photos in Lightroom from my iPhone to allow me more practice and get to know my phone better. So as I was waiting for the carwash to finish I took this photo and performed advanced edits to bring out the darkness of being inside the carwash and the sunset in the background. #Sunset&Chill
"In My Head"
This photo was taken of the last two remaining roses from my birthday gift displayed prior. I put the last two in their own vase with water and these clear rock glass crystals to make the vase more visually appealing. One night the light in the house was shining on the vase and it gave me the idea of playing with light and shadow to create some type of effect.
This is the end result that I used a flashlight and distance as key to making this enhanced shadow that was at least 12 feet tall from floor to the ceiling of my living room! I made the photo B&W and played with the enhancements of the blacks, whites, and grays to make this photo come more alive and show off the details of the water, rose thorns, and overall shape of the display.
The idea was inspired by creating an illusion of how big these roses were which were not big at all as shown in this photo. It reminds me do not take for granted the things that seem small because in my head they can be bigger and more powerful to keep me motivated when I need it the most. #BabyWhatsYourMotive
