It's been one year since I sold everything I had and ran from Puerto Rico to start a new life.

Like many life altering events, the seeds for change were being planted some time before. Trying to make a living as a photographer left me on the receiving end of daily bank calls and weight gain fueled by depression. Once the opportunity for change appeared, I jumped on it without any idea of what to expect. One week later I was in New York, getting ready to sleep in couches while I would settle in.

My first days in the city were hard, the bitter cold was something completely new to me, at first glance the city seemed pretty horrible with a lot of cranky people in every turn. I couldn't believe I left my sunny island for this.

Slowly but surely everything started becoming amazing. My bills were becoming a more manageable and smaller monster, I moved to downtown Manhattan to a very nice tiny apartment and summer was arriving bringing the warmth of the sun and with it new experiences in the city.

Old friends were relegated to wonderful memories while family visits became a quarterly thing. New friends arrived with incredible drive and enthusiasm that inspired me in many ways. A new family was and still is being formed in our little town of Financial District.

These people have helped shaped my view of the city, each one has added a little of their influence and taste to my life and made me a more grateful person and inspired person because of it.

As a form of gratitude I invited many of the people I’ve met for a few fun very enjoyable portrait sessions. While these are only a few of the people that have been a part of my life, I’m happy to share their portraits. Here are the results of our experiment: