I didn’t pick up a camera to become a photographer, I picked it up to hold onto moments I didn’t want to lose. Long before I ever touched a camera, I grew up surrounded by portraits my abuelita hung on every wall of our home. Faces of family, faded memories, lives paused in time.

And somewhere between those walls, I grew up hearing the phrase “sí se puede” more times than I can count. That phrase, stitched into the way we lived, stuck with me. It became more than a motto, it became my mindset, especially once I realized photography could be my way of preserving not just people, but the power and pride of where I come from.

It didn’t necessarily start this way though. Obviously I didn’t see this that early on. It all started in 2002. Freshman year of high school. Being into cars always looking at cars through magazines, being enamored with cars like the Nissan Skyline, the Toyota Supra, classics like the 69’ Chevelle, the 69 Nova, the Mustang; they all made me want to be part of the car culture through magazines. Being young however, I’ll be one to admit, my focus was scattered. I took 1 semester of photography and dropped the ball.

Years went on. Graduated high school. Went onto college. I always wanted to provide a service to my community and went onto study Criminal Justice. My thought process was, “if I can’t make it to be a police officer, the least I could do for my community is become a part of the Crime Scene Investigation team as a photographer.” Well, lo and behold. I obtained my Criminal Justice degree. Never became a CSI photographer however, I guess I didn’t have the stomach for it.

Cars never faded from my interest though. As I grew, a camera may not have been in my hands all those years, but I was always modifying whatever car I had in my possession through those years. In 2021, a former friend pulled me back into photography, this time for a different reason. My friend, a wedding photographer, needed a second cameraman. Someone he could trust, someone that was reliable. Me being that person for him, and having had previous interest in photography he thought he would give me a go. That’s how I purchased my first (although it was a hand me down) camera, a Canon T3i with some basic lens; my favorite 55-250mm lens and an 18-55mm lens. This was just the beginning.

Now, although I never tagged along to his wedding shoots, I still took in the basics from him. I practiced and practiced and practiced. It seemed like I was really taking this thing seriously now. I even went back to school. This time to major in photography.
Fast forward to Fall of 2022, I was introduced to the work of Graciela Iturbide. And all of a sudden, it clicked. Photography wasn’t about today’s clicks and views. There was something deeper, something with soul. And I was on a journey to figure out what that meant.
That first “aha” moment made me crave more. It shifted my mindset, even if I couldn’t quite put my finger on why.

School gave me that challenge. It forced me to dig in, to figure out what kept pulling me back to photography in the first place. And through the tension we’ve seen in the country over the past few years, I started reflecting even more.

One day, I visited my abuelita’s house, the house I grew up in. I stood there, just staring at the walls. So many faces, so many stories, so many emotions frozen in time.

Being older now, having lived through my own experiences, something in me finally woke up. I realized why photography had never let go of me. It was about culture. It was about love. Humanity. Family. Stories.

All of this made me pivot deeper into photography. Sports had always been a part of me. Growing up, I was a huge fan of soccer, basketball, baseball, and more than anything, boxing.

Boxing hit different. The grit, the passion, the intensity. Those powerful moments. The hooks, the uppercuts, the body shots, the jabs. It all felt alive. I grew up watching the greats: Julio César Chávez, Mike Tyson, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricardo López, Félix Trinidad, Manny Pacquiao, and so many others.

Once I got into my groove behind the lens, I started shooting basketball games, baseball, and softball for my photojournalism class. That experience lit a fire in me. I didn’t just want more sports, I wanted more soul. I wanted the grit, the raw emotion, the moments that made you feel something. I wanted culture in my frames.

That’s when I found two young fighters; Dylan Navarro (seen below)

and Misael De La Cruz (also seen below left hand side), better known as “Missile” training at Quicksilver Hill Sports Academy. They were being molded by a boxing legend: a five-time World Champion, 1984 Olympic Silver Medalist, and International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee Virgil “Quicksilver” Hill (right hand side of the picture).

That’s when it all came full circle. I realized I wasn’t just capturing punches, I was capturing purpose. These fighters, like the portraits on my abuelita’s walls, are stories in motion. And every time I raise my camera, I’m reminded why I started this journey in the first place: to hold onto moments, to honor my roots, and to tell stories that matter. Stories that live and breathe long after the shutter clicks. I’m still writing this story one frame at a time. If you’ve made it this far, thank you. I hope you’ll stick around as I continue capturing the moments that matter.

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