I Am Who I Am America.

Date Published: 5/13/2017

I am currently going back to school for quantum physics and biomolecular engineering at Penn State University after 10 years of being in the photography industry and briefly for under 2 years working on the sets of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar as a first assistant and digital technician to photographer Hao Zeng.



 



I am also living out of my car as I was evicted a few days after my 29th Birthday for inability to pay rent. So being the positive person I am I wanted to make lemonade out of lemons if I was going to be homeless till I can live on campus.



 



So I set up a gofundme at www.gofundme.com/IAMWHOIAMAMERICA hoping to raise enough money to travel and document the country through photography and film out of my car using just my camera and my Ipad Pro.



 



I don't even have a cell phone now as my iPhone was destroyed during a storm having to camp outside. It's actually liberating though as I can communicate through email, messenger etc on the cellular tablet.



 



Anyway, the big thing here is that I suffered from addiction for many years and I am 10 years clean of heroin. I went from all advanced studies to almost not graduating my senior year. But through all this I managed to keep myself together and keep my head up always dreaming of the future I desire.



 



I hope to utilize social media via Instagram and Facebook to spread my story and promote not only individuality and loving who we are for what we are but most pertinent is to create awareness for the opioid epidemic that is decemating our country and culture. We need to talk about this and I hope whoever reads this that they allow me to be the light I am to shine and show others to never give up in the face of adversity.



 



For if we always face the sun, our shadows will always fall behind us. Thank you and God bless. You can view some of my recent photography work at www.shawnrutkowski.com/blog and the link above explains everything about my Gofundme.



 



Thank you for your time and consideration. Godspeed.
I Am Who I Am America.