Instagram, quite simply, is my life. Or a reflection of it at the very least.

I have no problem saying that now-a-days. It has allowed me the creative freedom to tell stories — as I have always been something of storyteller. So, I’ve entered this platform for visual storytellers with full force.

It all started late September. When I decided to take my Instagram account of 146 (at the time) and actually start to use it (after roughly six months of no use). I can’t really explain what it was that led me to reactivate my account but it happened.

My first few posts were rather uneventful. I had bought into the vanity hype of selfies and food pics, thus coming off as the stereotypical millennial. Around a month later a friend of mine sent me this article, and it completely changed the way I saw Instagram:

It was after reading this article that I realized that, if I was going to post a picture, it would have value — whoever read it, from whatever background, would be able to get something from it. I have become consumed, well enamored, if you will, by things called story portraits. For those who don’t know story portraits are essentially photo essays. They give you and I the ability to truly capture and personify moments snapped behind a camera.

As I have matured and grown so have the stories that I have been able to tell as well as how I capture them. In this 2016 I feel like another shift is happening. One that again, I must follow wherever it leads.

At the tail end of last year I was approached by many friends, strangers in the Instagram community, and people I had lost touch with. Their message was all one in the same, my account:

was viewed as a form of inspiration. That what I posted actually meant something. It’s truly humbling to know that through all the noise that they had to endure throughout the day, they took the time to stop and read what I had written.

So, this plus an interesting Instagram post by one of my inspirations, Branden Harvey, founded the belief that, I too could do some good. Even if that good was limited to the small circle of people I may have influence on.