NPR

Vanessa Leroy Once Used Daydreaming To Escape. Now, It's The Heart Of Her Photography

Vanessa Leroy says attending a racial justice protest in 2014 helped her realize she wanted to be a photographer. She photographed a helicopter that day, saying, "I took it out of the context that it was originally in to make it feel you're entering into this dream space where you're about to navigate all of these memories and past experiences."

In November 2014, Vanessa Leroy was out photographing protests against police brutality in Boston. Three months earlier, a police officer in Ferguson, Mo., had shot and killed Michael Brown. In Boston and countless other cities across the nation, thousands were joining together in protest.

"That was really the first time where I was using my camera to capture an event such as this and the rage that everyone was feeling," says Leroy. "I feel like that was really

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