Capturing an image of a place where you feel comfortable, at home, and shows a piece of you is a difficult task. All these feelings, while real in the heart of the photographer, are intangible, things not so easily captured in a photograph. Me, being inexperienced as a photographer, found this especially hard. Despite the difficulty, this assignment was one of my favorites. It gave me an opportunity to throw a piece of myself into an artistic medium that I had never experimented with before, a chance to show the people in my class sides to me that they maybe hadn't seen in casual conversation. So with all this in mind, I headed out on my journey to photograph the "essence of me". All my photographs except one were taken in my actual neighborhood of Merrick, NY. But not in the usual manner. The real sense of Merrick can be seen by driving through "town". Town to us consists of the shops and restaurants lining our main road, Merrick Avenue. I didn't want to take a picture of this at all. To me, "town" would be a snapshot for someone who loved every bit of living in Merrick and wanted to stay there for the remainder of their life. The old fashioned buildings signify an individual with a family that has a history in this place, unlike myself. But, at the same time, I can't deny that Merrick has been the only place that I have personally lived throughout my past, even if I don't see myself here in the future. So, I thought an appropriate snapshot would be of the entrance to the Southern State Parkway, a highway running along the south of Long Island with connections to various others. The entrance ramp is only a few blocks away from my house, directly next to the church I attended my whole life. But with the photo I took, all that is behind me. I'm looking directly at the way out, at all the cars also searching for their destinations. Taking a picture of the highway, and yet still being so close to home means to me that I will never forget where I came from and how it played a role in getting me where I am, but that I would eventually like to leave and move on to bigger and better things.