As I peered out into the crashing waves beneath me, I took a deep breath of the crisp ocean air. I faintly heard the seagulls above, their calls muffled by the roar of the great engine guiding me across the sea. I paused for a moment, looking across at the setting sun as the stars began to shine their first light. I left Scandinavia with a newfound ability to value the little details in the way I was seeing things. During my journey, I embarked on trips across the lands of Scandinavia, going from Stockholm, to Copenhagen, to a sauna in the Finnish countryside. I explored museums, monuments, and great natural influences such as the Møns Klint, in each location challenged to pause and sketch what I saw, taking bits and pieces of the culture before me to create a collaborative visual journal that would reflect my journey. As my creative eye was founded in a photographic passion, pencil and paper was a new medium to record memories, and it taught me a new way of seeing that inversely influenced my photography. Learning to perfect every line, shape, and color, spending time watching each kiss of light on my subject gave me an attention to detail that is evident in my photographic pursuits.

With each composition, I now think back to the sketches I took throughout the Scandinavian countryside: every detail within the four corners of my frame is essential, each photograph is captured to encase every ray of light that passes onto my subject. Each time I look through my viewfinder, I think back to my voyage across the Baltic Sea: I once again hear the humming of the titanium beast beneath me as it aches across the water, I feel the breath of the ocean running through my hair, and I see the waking stars, each image I capture like a brush on a canvas, a harmony of textures, shadows, and light composed to please the eye.