I grew up spending every free minute I had on the beaches and mountains of San Diego, California, always on 2 wheels or whatever board the day called for.
My first interest in photography came at age 11, when my dad (a gifted photographer who's natural eye for composition I still envy), would bring his old Nikkormat to my bmx and motocross races and shoot rolls and rolls of film. We spent many a Saturday night in the parking lot of the local 1-hour photo lab so I could have the prints that night. I'd edit down a collection I would take to school the next day. I was quiet and observant, and never very popular at school, but I remember vividly those few minutes when I'd casually show my new racing photos to a few classmates, and for a few minutes, I'd actually feel cool.
Nearly 30 years later, while I looked through a box of prints from my dad's college photojournalism classes, I began to understand the value of still photographs in a new way. They have the power make someone feel emotion, to change opinions, to reveal things unexpected.
Despite being taken by the magic of photographs from an early age, it wasn't until after graduating college that I became interested in actually making my own pictures. When I finally first picked up a camera sometime in the summer of 2008 I think, it was love at first frame and day one. I read every book I could get my hands on, I asked a few friends for advice, and within six months I had left my job as a mortgage broker to pursue photography full-time.
My first portraits were mostly of musicians and singer-songwriter friends in Nashville and Los Angeles. My music and portrait portfolio grew, and in 2010 I moved to Brooklyn, NY and continued to hone my portrait skills. Within a couple of years I had photographed album covers and publicity images for every major record label, and even spent a year as the Staff Photographer at Atlantic Records.
Living in New York City drew me to the world of branding and advertising, and I expanded my portfolio beyond music and portraits as I dove into shooting more commercial and lifestyle work. I left Atlantic Records shortly after shooting my first advertising job and have since photographed campaigns for many well-known national and international brands, receiving commissions directly from brands' in-house creative teams, as well as their various ad agencies.
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