OC Artist Of The Year
Photography Division 1
Featured Gallery
Last Rring - Call of the Past
The image centers on an old telephone booth, surrounded by deep, curved shadows that make certain blacks deeper and draw your eye to the subject. It’s a nostalgic reminder of a time when phones like this were part of everyday life—each call a different story. How many calls ended with a slammed hang-up? How many calls were dialed excitedly to share joyful news? This phone is a memento of the past, inviting us to pause and remember an era we don’t see anymore, but should never forget.
Faded Leather
The image captures a vintage car, framed from a unique angle that draws you in. Warm tones paint the scene, sparking feelings of nostalgia and the beauty found in the stories of the vintage. How many times was this car taken on a cruise? What stories lie behind each dent and scratch? What a wonderful era—a vibrant time that once felt much simpler.
Echoes of a Desolate Land
This is an image of a solitary dead tree rooted in the ruins of a once-thriving, vibrant land, embodying a quiet moment of fear, loneliness, and depleted life. The tree’s dark shadow echoes a timeless truth—that nothing lasts forever, not even despair. Yet beneath this stillness lies a lingering moral idea: Though unseen now, spring will return, and from the ashes of loss, new life and unexpected beauty will emerge.
Left Weathered & Worn from Time
This image captures the quiet impact of time. The barn tells a story of what once was—something once cared for, now left to decay. But in this worn-down state, its structure becomes bare. Time strips away the surface, revealing the core. It's a parallel to the human experience. We go through seasons that wear us down, but even in the breaking, we’re still standing. It’s a visual reminder that strength isn’t about looking perfect—it’s about endurance.
Disillusionment
This portrait, part of a sustained investigation, uses long exposure and muted colors to explore the chaos of a restless mind pulled in conflicting directions. It captures the raw disillusionment of growing up—the bitter awakening when the high school dreams you once believed in collide with a harsher reality. It’s a personal reckoning with disappointment, where fantasy fades, real struggles set in, and you’re forced to adapt.
Whispering Emotions
“Whispering Emotions” is part of a sustained investigation into how long-exposure portraits can visually convey deep, inner emotion. This image experiments with color by emphasizing the subjects in unexpected ways. The colors traditionally tied to joy, sadness, and confusion are deliberately switched to highlight the quiet chaos within one’s mind. The image captures the daily struggle of trying to balance these emotions whispering through your mind — not because they’re bad, but because they’re always there, layered and real.