Esmelda Mendoza

I was born in Ica, Peru, Where I grew up in a large family. I moved to USA many years ago. I guess I was the only one brave enough to survive in a different country far away from family and friends.  I love to travel, usually because I bring back with me the beauty of the country I visit on digital files.  I discovered photography while trying to fulfil requirements for an Associate in Arts degree at a local college. I studied the list of options searching for a class that I would learn and enjoy.  As I searched the list, it clicked in my mind that photography was the topic I would enjoy.  Ever since I was a child, I wondered about a way to keep with me the view of a brilliant sunset, a lush, a beautiful landscape, or anything that I could treasure as often as I wanted. Whenever I wanted to. How could I keep this treasure just as I was seeing it at that particular moment in time. Reflecting back on this memory, I realized that photography was the class I should take. This class changed my life; without it, I would have never found this way to capture the precious views that I have encountered. I would have not discovered this passion for photography.