My name is Joseph Xie.

I am 15 years old and a youth at Immanuel Baptist Church. I was born in Canada and I have a deep love for traveling. I first heard about Love Is Moving after attending the Today’s Teens conference that they had sponsored. A recent passion of mine has been photography; I discovered the art after speaking to an older youth that was hired to take photos for an event at my church.

We began talking about his passion and soon it became my passion. I found my sister’s old, unused DSLR camera and immediately began using it. I practically see the world through my camera’s viewfinder now.

In my childhood, I was always focused on academics, while my sister was always involved in some sort of art, and I accepted that we were different. I believed that I contained no artistic ability at all. I never realized I had the power to create until I touched my first camera—that’s when everything changed.

My parents were very supportive in all of this. They encouraged me to leave the house to shoot more often and persuaded me to chase opportunities through photography. They assured me that money will not be an issue in terms of photography and that they will support me in every way possible. They motivate me to grow and create whenever I can through the arts.