This is where it began.

In 2010, I left my job as a photo editor.

I loved photography.

But something was missing.

I wanted it to mean more.

A year later, I travelled to Nicaragua for the first time.

I went with a simple idea:

to use photography to help children living on the streets see themselves — and their world — differently.

I put cameras in their hands.

They photographed what mattered to them.

What they loved.

What they noticed.

What they dreamed of.

Photography became a way to express themselves — and perhaps to see themselves with a little more confidence.

They weren't simply being looked at.
They were the ones looking.

Through Their Eyes

The first chapter of Heroes.

A world seen through their eyes.

I returned to Nicaragua several times.

And I began to photograph.

I spent time with families living in the slums, listening to their stories and sharing moments of everyday life.

I expected to photograph hardship.

I found something else.

Love.

Faith.

Courage.

Not because life was easy.

But because these things existed alongside the difficulty.

In a mother's tenderness.

In a child's imagination.

In faith.

In laughter.

In the determination to keep going.

Heroes became an ode to the resilience, dignity and humanity I encountered there.

The photographs and stories eventually became a book.

Heroes — Stories of Love, Faith and Courage

A tribute to the people who allowed me into their lives.

I went to Nicaragua believing in the power of photography to change the way we see.

I didn't yet know how much it would change me.

Much of what guides my work today began there.