My 4th-grade teacher hands my mother a test where I hadn't answered any of the questions. However, every inch of the test is covered in meticulously detailed drawings. With gleaming eyes, I explain the elaborate storyline that accompanies my drawings - tales of cowboys and horse thieves, bandits and train robberies. Despite my teacher's disapproval, my mom tells me I will be a great storyteller one day.

Today, as The Cowboy Photographer, I continue to tell stories thanks to a mother who saw beyond the blank test to the potential in the margins.