this image was taken on expired fuji nph 400 in north carolina and is my first film photo to be minted on the blockchain.

in 2020, i bought a film camera for $13 and it reignited my love for photography. in high school, i fell in love with film but my photography dreams were pushed to the side by life's interruptions. that october, i went to north carolina for my birthday to capture fall foliage. one of my friends asked me early on during the trip what the one thing i really wanted to see was. i told him i've been dying to see a cloud inversion and that would absolutely make my trip. the entire time i was in north carolina we were in rain and fog, which was a special kind of beauty, but not the pastel dreamscapes i was hoping for. i had just about given up on hopes of an inversion but the skies cleared on my last day and low clouds flooded the valley. i watched this sunset and it was so perfectly timed it felt like a late birthday gift from the universe.

at the time of my north carolina trip, i knew i wanted to be a photographer more than anything. when i was at work my head was often in the clouds while i dreamed of exploring magical places and capturing pink and purple skies. i had no idea i'd be a full time photographer only three months later.

my 13$ film camera and chasing a dream have me in a perpetual feeling of being in the clouds. when i shoot film, truly nothing else matters. the noise from everyday distractions disappear with the press of my shutter. my focus goes from thinking about everything all at once to being present in the moment, crafting the perfect frame in my viewfinder. this moment was no different. on the top of this mountain, staring at the majesty of the blue ridge, nothing else mattered.