I grew up with a camera in my hand, taking pictures of everything. Before I even knew what composition was, I was experimenting with it. I like to think that I had an intuitive understanding of artistic concepts. Pair that with the feeling of holding down the shutter, and I was hooked. I also grew up drawing and painting from time to time, as a way to relax and express myself. I did not feel that I was as strong in these areas. I found a new love when I tried out ceramics in middle school, and pursued it all the way through an AP ceramics high school course. When I decided to pursue an art degree in college, I developed more concrete drawing, painting, ceramics, and photography skills, and learned more about the artistic concepts that I had played around with for so long. My love for drawing flourished as I gained confidence through my figure drawing classes. I loved that it combined my knowledge of anatomy with my passion for art. I worked extremely hard at my drawing skills as I saw this as fundamental to grow as an artist, so I experienced rapid growth in my ability to draw and paint. I also took classes to gain firm photography and ceramics skills, two areas that I had a lot of previous experience in. Additionally, I explored 3D art classes, although I must admit these were very difficult for me, it taught me more about the value of a solid ideation and planning ahead.