[REMMY.] What's up Dandrey! Nice to meet you man. So give our community a little background about you? And when did you (or us) stumble upon each other?
[DANDREY.] Hey! I stumbled upon you guys from seeing a friend, Sofia, tagging you guys in her bio. From there I did some research and had a good vibe saying I should and want to be apart of this. I did photography as a kid just taking photos for my older sister's myspace and taking photos of my dogs. I always had that photo passion but after a year of college I decided to just major in it and go all out with it.
[REMMY.] One of the most controversial and discussed topics surrounding the youth and young entrepreneurs is -- depression. I myself also go through cycles of it and am one of the most guilty at keeping everything to myself. I, just recently, have started to speak on it and shed light into "my world" -- When I saw your tweet, it inspired me to speak up as well. I see so many that are just like me but may not possess one ingredient that I think I innately have...that's persistence to overcome. I've always had this underlying pull that no matter what I'm going through; I move forward. Gritting my teeth and all, I move forward. But I don't know how to tell others going through depression to do the same, you know? What's it like for you to battle and learning to live with the ups and downs of depression?
[DANDREY.] My battle with depression...for visual representation, imagine a non-stop rollercoaster. Some days feel like any other day, some feel like your stuck in place, feet glued to the floor and have all this pressure on you making you unable to move while not having any emotional connection to anything almost as if your an empty bottle. And then trying to fight that feeling and then being unstoppable, filled with positivity and joy. That's how it is for which some days it does effect my photography. I'd feel like my work isn't good enough, I'm not improving or just not in the mood at all.
[REMMY.] Do you have any quick go to methods to help when the "wall" of depression just kinda' hits you out of nowhere?
[DANDREY.] Though I do sometimes push through that feeling and still shoot photos and the feeling when I get a really nice photo makes me feel alive and invincible. I learned just to simply keep moving. Even if I have no material to shoot, try to schedule something last second or to at least find something to do. Doing nothing allows you to slowly fall deeper into the pit we all depression but being active, doing things you like and hanging out with people you care about even a slight genuine laugh can distract you from those thoughts which can ultimately help with this feeling.
[REMMY.] Has social media played a new and more dangerous role in the mental state of "the youth"?
[DANDREY.] Social media is like a dual edged sword. It can hurt because seeing other people success can and I have seen people take it as "my work isn't good or will never be good" and trying to compare other peoples success/degrading themselves which isn't the way we should see it. We should see others success as a motivation/goal to get influence like that instead of downsizing yourself and thinking reaching that is impossible. I see it as a motivator as I said earlier because it allowed me to meet/network with multiple people who became friends and possibly more later on in my life. I also use social media as an way to help develop ideas such as wanting to do something similar but in my own style and receiving criticism to help further my skills.
[REMMY.] Well let's end on a BRIGHTER note and I'd like for you to give me one of your favorite quotes or some words of inspiration you live by...
[DANDREY.] Haha I do actually have a few quotes I live by/ motivate me. My favorite one is.... "I want to believe, Believe that the faith in myself is real". Another one is " It always seems impossible until it's done".