Growing up, I had a friend that I always did everything with. Eventually, I stopped making decisions for myself, and we always did what my friend wanted to do. I wanted to take a photography class, and they wanted to take a music class. We chose to take the music class, and I didn’t enjoy it, so the next year I chose the photography class, and I realized that I was actually feeling better about the decision I made. I also realized how much I really enjoyed being by myself and also meeting new people. I was one of the best students in that class, and we were pretty successful that year. I was able to do what made me happy, and I felt good because I didn’t have anyone holding me back and making decisions for me.

I chose to use this image because, even though it may not be the best photo taken and it was just in the moment, my perspective of this picture stayed the same. To me this picture shows one path and all of a sudden I get the chance to make a huge decision for myself. In the middle of the path there’s a bench and a tree. The tree has many branches, and they represent the amount of opportunities and decisions I can make for myself, while the bench represents a spot for me to sit back and watch others do what they want knowing I could do it too but I’m being held back. Those are my two options, and I chose the “path” towards to the tree. I realized that there are so many opportunities out there that I have been missing out on and I’ve always been stuck doing the same thing. To be free means to have liberty and make decisions for yourself.