How and why I started taking night photos is a complicated mess of a story. As a barely adult photographer, I spent a lot of time driving around aimlessly. At first it started merely in search of photos, but later developed into a form of therapy. As someone with a caring parent who always needed a reason for leaving the house, it was an easy excuse to leave and decompress. The amount of times my dad heard the words “going out to take photos” as I quickly slipped out of the house is probably nearing the triple digits. While I did capture many photos on my drives during the day, during the night I never really took any photos. I just enjoyed the night, the air spilling through my cracked windows and the music I played and sang along to.

I decided one night that I should try my hardest to get some photos while on my night drive. This was partially due to the fact that I hadn’t taken a lot of photos in a while as well as to help ease the guilt I felt because I had been telling my dad I was taking photos while on these drives. The photos I took that night were successes in my opinion.

When I was tasked with creating a series of images, it felt like there was no other avenue to take other than night photos. Taking the photos has been the easiest part of the process knowing exactly why I am inclined to take these photos at night was quite a heavy task. I thought about my life and my experiences to try to piece together why I feel drawn to these nights. I remembered nights in my childhood when I would take bike rides at night alone, the thrill I felt, and how nothing else had mattered. The stresses of my childhood, my mother's illness, my unhealthy friendships, not knowing who I was subdued for a small amount of time.

At night I felt control, while during the day my problems were at the forefront; at night they seemed to fade away. The world right outside my doorstep wasn’t the same at night as it was during the day. The places I knew had taken a completely different form I felt like I was able to escape while only being down the block.

Coming to this realization has made my attraction to these nights make sense. These nights are my escape and these photos I capture are releases of the stress and the pain that I have endured and some that I still do today.  These photos are embodiments of my struggle and my journey of overcoming the obstacles in my life.