Who?

I am a professional photographer from Costa Rica.

At 30, I feel better in my own skin than I have ever felt in my life. Why? Because I have found what I love to do, I can do it every day and by doing it, I can touch other people’s lives, at least bringing a smile to their faces.

I was born in Costa Rica to a hard working computer systems engineer and a passionate and committed social psychologist. I grew up with one sister, who is now finishing a Masters in anthropology at Columbia University on a Fulbright scholarship. From very young our parents made sure that we were aware that there were many people less privileged than us, even in our own extended family. They taught us to appreciate this, and to use our privilege to help others.

This led me to study chemistry at University of Costa Rica, a field I liked because it explained the world at a micro level, and because it is a basic science for important changes in medicine and environmental issues. I was in my last year when I realized I was not happy with my chosen profession. I knew that to make a significant contribution to improve our world I would have to spend many years inside a white room, probably isolated.

That was when I decided to explore a side of me that was always put in second place, the creative side. For a year I experimented with everything from dance to African history, and then decided to give photography a chance, not really knowing where this path was going to take me. It was the best decision I ever made.

Things were hard at the beginning, not because I found this new task difficult, but because people around me felt I was making a mistake by changing careers so radically, leaving behind four years of hard work and sacrifices. But I felt happy and passionate about my new profession, and I attribute the success that followed to that.

As a staff photographer at The Tico Times newspaper, I had a revealing experience. After successfully pushing for a story on a soup kitchen in a shantytown, a few readers decided to help feed more than three hundred children, five days a week. Thanks to these socially committed readers, this soup kitchen operated for more than four years.

These people were touched by my images and the outstanding work of the reporter that worked with me on this story, and that made them want to use their power to help. Through this experience, I saw how photography could be a medium for those stories that need to be told. Understanding the power that my images can have, once they reach the right people, is a big responsibility for me. I have committed to this tool, and that is why I feel the urge to improve every day and find more efficient and powerful ways to get my images, and consequently the stories told by them, out in to the world.

In 2010 the Inter American Press Association granted me a scholarship to attend a university in the United States. Now, I am a student at the Journalism department at San Francisco State University. I’m concentrating my studies on photojournalism and multimedia, trying to learn new tools that will help me get the stories out there in a better way.