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A portrait of the artist.
I was born in the Philippines and moved to Long Beach, California, when I was around four years old. Long Beach is a very diverse city with a lot to offer. I’ve been surfing my whole life, but I’ve also been plagued with back problems. I’ve had eight back surgeries and three hip surgeries–all surfing and snowboarding related. This ultimately led to me discovering a new passion: photography. It started off as just a way to stay connected to the ocean as well as my friends and family that surf. In fact, I started shooting photos from the water before I ever took photos on land. This might sound cliché and might also be hard for some people to understand, but photography basically saved my life.