This shoot is centered around the idea of finding aspects of home everywhere. I think it’s really relevant for anyone going off to college or leaving the place in which they’ve grown up, because everything is suddenly so unfamiliar. These photos seek to capture how home can be anything from a friend to a familiar street sign to a building you pass by often. This was my first year away from my home in San Luis Obispo, as I now go to Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Taking these photos really helped me cope with the transition, and I think that serves as an example of how art can often get people through difficult situations. Growing up, I was always eager to leave my hometown and see new places, but when it actually came time to do so, I found that it was scarier than expected. When I first moved, everything around me felt extremely unfamiliar and different, but I soon discovered that having new places to adventure, explore, and photograph was really conducive for my growth as both a photographer and a person. In putting photos of Portland side by side with pictures of San Luis Obispo, I hope to capture that traveling to a new place and having new experiences doesn't mean a person has to completely abandon their past, but that it is possible to appreciate both the new and the old simultaneously.