• 2022 Capstone
    • Omar Noah Gonzalez
    • Jade Luther
    • Eden Smith
    • Aaron Heinrich
    • Dawson Peters
    • Elliot Lovell
    • Christyana Fletcher
    • Alyson Disbrow
    • Omar Barrera
    • Sarah Tuttleman
    • Jack McMIllan
    • Leanne Brodie
    • Meghann Grace Peltz
    • Cameron Zucker
    • Kylie Brennan
    • Tesa Ahuna Turqueza
    • AJ Edelman
    • Sydney Fife
  • 2021 Capstone
    • Juana Apachito
    • Caleb Autry
    • Kylie Barela
    • Carlynn Begay
    • Timmy Deppe
    • Michael Gregersen
    • Charlotte Haston
    • Madeleine Howard
    • Alan Kammerman
    • Diana Ochs
    • Michael Patacsil
    • AnnaLycia Patrice
    • Marisa "MP" Pinette
    • Celia Reid
    • Maria Saldivar
    • Lindsay Tolstedt
    • Kayla Willis
    • Natalie Wiseman
    • Tyler Woodward
    • Yingni Wu
  • 2020 Capstone
    • Alastair Poll
    • Austin Sudweeks
    • Bess Valdez
    • Carynn Meyers
    • Cassidy Coles
    • Cecilia Polichetti
    • Claire Sipos
    • Courtney Jorgenson
    • David Williams
    • Emilio Ferrara
    • Grace Oresman
    • James Muraki
    • Jayna Powers
    • Jenni Summers
    • Katherine Perry
    • Katie Kroeppler
    • Marc Amaya
    • Margaret Whittaker Reniker
    • Maria Rene Marsh
    • Michaela Sullivan
    • Miles Rhoades
    • Nicole Babler
    • Savannah McKinzie
    • Savi Klasen
    • Shannon Cowan
    • Shannon Swain
    • Shelby Sorensen
    • Sierra Olson
    • Stephanie McLean
    • Tehlor Takahata

MILES RHOADES

Where Am I?

I remember moving to Arizona when I was in sixth grade. When we got here all I could think about was how badly I wished I could go back to Colorado. I resented the heat of the Tucson summer and the landscape of rocks and cacti. Even as I found myself playing in the washes between neighborhoods, and looking for scorpions under UV by night, I still told myself how badly I wished I could return home. I kept that same pattern of thought throughout my high school years, until I eventually left for NAU in 2016.


Finally, I would be able to escape the burning concrete of the Sonoran and see some snow and pines, I thought. I arrived with the help of my family, lived in the dorms, and was an upstanding freshman in the honors college; I had a great time. I remember the first snow of 2016 in Flagstaff vividly. It was a November morning, I watched it from my sixth-floor room in Reilly hall with my roommate and enjoyed what I thought was the moment where I was reunited with my mental home. It was a special year to me.


However, as the months ticked by things were going less great for me. I learned my transition into adulthood had plenty of challenges to offer me yet, and I noticed how small the Flagstaff sky can look. I visited Tucson after a particularly terrible October in 2018. I thought I just needed to be with my family, but I also found myself cherishing the expansive valley between the Tucson, Santa Catalina, Rincon, and Santa Rita mountain ranges where my family called home. I became fascinated with the birds and flowers in the backyard and the smell of the rain in the desert. I realized how much beauty I let myself ignore while I was busy being wrapped up in some fantasy of returning home.


Until this point, I had still wanted to return to Colorado one day, but now I knew I didn’t really care. I decided on a new goal. I decided to learn to be happy wherever I may be and do the things which my quiet inner self knew were good for me. And while I now think Tucson exemplifies beauty in nature and humanity, I know that if I am feeling despondent, I can conjure up those same feelings for myself wherever I need. With my camera and my own two feet, I can create and learn from the environment in equal measure and remind myself that, even through hard times, home is wherever I make it.

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NAU PHOTOGRAPHY CAPSTONE