Shooting for life: HIV-positive since age 14, this New York photographer reaffirmed his life through his camera. Now he's giving kids at Harvey Milk High School the same opportunity and helping them see the big picture about AIDS.(PHOTOGRAPHY TEACHER / Luna Luis Ortiz)(Personal account)

From: The Advocate (The national gay & lesbiannewsmagazine) | Date: June 20, 2006| Author: Sparks, Cator | Copyright information

I was born in the Bronx, N.Y., in 1972. My father was a photographer, and I became fascinated with his work at a young age. I remember when he would ask me to take pictures of the family and I would try to make them pose like old Hollywood starlets. My childhood was pretty perfect. Unfortunately, I was not informed about safe sex, and in 1986 at the age of 14, I became infected with HIV from my first sexual experience.

Many of the young people I came out with in New York...

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