Desert Illustrated February Issue

Camera on.

Photo focused.

Button clicked.

Within seconds an image is taken, and it’s simply acknowledged for what it's worth. For Senior Alex Maria, an image isn’t just about how the perfect lighting is. It’s about how an image can be taken to its full potential, to display a profound and meaningful story. Maria aspires to capture a moment in time.

Maria's love for photography began when he was a freshman. He chose the elective, and quickly he fell in love with the program. With the class igniting his passion, Maria took upon himself to take things up a notch and saved enough money to buy his first camera, a Canon T5i. Whether it was a school project or a photo shoot, he took an immense amount of photos daily and made sure each one came out crisp and eye-pleasing.

“Taking photography helped me gain a creative eye, so now I look at the whole world differently. I’m always on the hunt to find something visually aesthetic. After taking the class for almost four years, I can also say it's given me a lot of inspiration to always be a better photographer,” stated Maria.

When traveling to Peru over winter break, Maria took the opportunity to take his photography skills to the next level. When he traveled to Cuzco and explored what was left of the Inca tribe, his camera was by his side. During his trip, the moments Maria captured were none other than breathtaking. Each photo looked as if it were a stock image for National Geographic.

Whether it was from a bird's eye view or worm's eye view, each image was encased with multiple scenarios of Peruvian life. For every image Maria documented, he used EOA (elements of art) and POD (principles of design) to enhance the unseemingly beauty of the village. Pushing forth behind the setting of a photo, Maria believes an image tells more than what it's worth. For Maria, documenting through imagery rather than words is of the utmost importance to him because he's cognitive of the fact that visuals can stimulate emotions that resonate differently with each person.

“I don’t follow a specific style for a couple of reasons. I wanna create my style and follow that much more instead. I have no interest in following anyone's exact line of work. People need to be aware of other things other than what's going on in their city,” Maria expressed.

Maria found his passion- his story. Maria understood right from the beginning that photography takes time, patience and skill. The importance of taking photos allowed him to express himself and his view of life. Life was no longer dull for him; Maria proceeded to venture out and focus his camera lens on something that the average person wouldn't notice. He felt fulfilled when his images were acknowledged and praised. That's when he knew his work meant something to other people.

Although, self-doubt is always present. Maria puts heavy weight on his shoulders to have each shoot be better than the last. At certain times, this pressure is what makes him begin to be inconsistent with his work.

“My goal is to eventually stop being so self judgmental because I’ll snapshot or edit something, fall in love with it at the moment, but then I’ll look back at it the next morning and rethink the whole thing. I’ll start to slowly hate it just because I think I could’ve done better. I believe that I’m progressing every single day, so I end up ‘over’ progressing,” stated Maria.

Even though he can be hard on himself sometimes, Maria realized photography was his outlet. He has spent over a couple of hours to a couple of weeks editing endless images. Maria isn’t scared to take risks that set him apart from the rest of the crowd. He strives to not only be a better photographer, but he strives to be someone who can leave an inspiration or a mark on people.

“I’m able to express myself and document the world through my eyes all by a single click of a button. It sounds easy, but to capture the moment, you gotta understand what the story is that you strive to tell,” Maria ended off.