I started making video projects when I was 8, and made my first edited piece when I was 12. What I love about video is that I can combine any visual image, still or moving, with any audio I want to drive my message into the viewer's mind. In video, I like to explore realities in society. From a car thief stealing a car from another car thief to the insecurity that comes with being a teenager to the issues of smoking and drugs, I deal with issues that interest me and put a strong sense of myself into all that I create. I also have a strong background in still photography. In 1996, I attended the California State Summer School for the Arts film and video program. There, my two interests (photo and video) were merged into one, film. Film combines all of the technical aspects of still photography with the same ability to combine moving images and sound offered by the medium of video. I am looking forward to pursuing film in the future. To me, it is a way to do the two things that I like to do most at the exact same time. I love when people come up to me and tell me that they do not understand my art. It encourages me when my work provokes people to think. I sent Pot of Gold to the International Student Media Festival under the category comedy with the purpose being to entertain. The judges sent me back a letter informing me that I did not win and should consider the message in the video. "Is stealing ok?" they wrote. As Emerson once said, "To be great is to be misunderstood". Not that I'm saying I'm great, but that is my goal. Feel free to contact me at erm26@columbia.edu and please use the menu bar below to link to other pages which feature my video, film, photo, sculpture, digital, and 3d model work. There are also links to my resume and back to the home page.