KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Scott Rivera likes to see the world through a lens.
"You get out of your head," he said. "You are thinking. It's very meditative to go and take pictures."
But his passion for photography didn't come easily.
"About a year ago, I was an active user of narcotics.," Rivera said. "I was in a bad place mentally, struggled with mental illness, depression things like that, for most of my life."
His addiction cost him one of the most important things in his life, but it also was a blessing in disguise.
"I ended up losing my job, which was probably the best thing for me, because it gave me that wake-up call of you need help, you need to get this done," Rivera said.
Now, he is almost a year sober and credits taking pictures for helping him stay clean.
"With my recovery, it became, 'I am going to do this as an outlet to try to get back into nature and kind of get away from myself,'" Rivera said.
He is finding himself while sharing his view of the world one picture at a time.
Rivera created an Instagram account, recoveringphotography, that shows nature's beauty and sobriety coming together.
"I want other people to see what is out there in the world and see that someone can make a better life for themselves after being an addict," Rivera said. "It's always about helping somebody else. I've gotten to where I am at with other people helping me, so at some point, it's going to be my turn."
