“I was born in the United States in 1985. As early as I can remember I’ve been a “doodler”. From even the early days I’ve always loved strange, offbeat, beautiful, and slightly melancholy things. Something about the mixed grabbed me. My love for sketching carried on throughout my high school days. Which is when I took a small class on watercolor. Watercolor is what birthed my passion for mixing colors and how a color can tell a story. In year 2009 I discovered digital painting and my new found passion for the medium. It’s been the favored medium for the past years since. I’ve used online tutorials and videos to help me learn along the way and then in late 2011 I took a workshop called Becoming a Better Artist. The beginning of 2013 I won a class from The Art Department which will start this spring.”

British Waters Wide Angle category runner-up. Grass snake swimming along a garden pond by Jack Perks (UK)in Nottinghamshire, UK. “I’m always on the lookout for unusual freshwater subjects and grass snakes are a species I’ve been after for years. I was told about a pond where the odd grass snake hangs around the lilly pads for frogs. I put my drysuit on and got into the water and could see one slithering along the surface. Slowly making my way towards it with my head only just poking above I got the spilt shot”. (Photo by Jack Perks/Underwater Photographer of the Year 2019)

American models, media personalitys and socialite Hailey Bieber (R) and Kendall Jenner on Set of What's in My Kitchen? in the second decade of April 2023. (Photo byTori Time/OBB Media)

An internally displaced woman collects water from a pond to construct a mud-house at the Aboushok camp in El Fasher, North Darfur, Sudan, November 17, 2015. The conflict in Sudan's Darfur region that erupted 12 years ago shows no sign of ending. But it hasn't stopped displaced youngsters, some of whom have spent their entire lives in refugee camps, from dreaming big. Twelve children aged 12 explain their hopes and dreams for the future; ambitions include becoming a doctor, an engineer and a teacher. (Photo by Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters)

A young Iranian woman walks in Tehran on June 14, 2021, ahead of the June 18 presidential elections. Iran is gearing up for a presidential election on June 18 but many young people are more focussed on the daily struggle to survive and their dreams for the future. Jobs are scarce in a recession-hit economy battered by sanctions, a crisis exacerbated by the region's worst outbreak of the Covid pandemic. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP Photo)