I’m one of those lucky people who found their passion early in life. In 1999 at the tender age of 12 and at the earnest peer-pressuring of my best friend, I took an elective photography class at my middle school. It was 35mm black and white film. I got my hands on an SLR camera for the first time and developed and printed my own film in the darkroom. I was smitten from day one.
It’s been a long time since I first fell in love with photography. I’ve no doubt had my ups and downs with it, but I’m happy to say that I’m even more enthusiastic and passionate about photography today than I was all those years ago. My work and approach has evolved immensely in that time. My early influences were all nature photographers - Thomas Mangelsen, Galen Rowell, Art Wolfe. I started out basically just doing my best impression of Galen Rowell. Fiery sunsets and vivid colors were my muse, and I was proud to call myself a landscape photographer.
In more recent years I have moved away from that epic landscape style. I discovered the work of Gregory Crewdson, Andreas Gursky, and Julius Shulman. I’ve done a lot of soul-searching about why I take pictures and what I hope to accomplish through my images. And although you’ll still find heavy nature and landscape influences in my portfolio, I like to think my approach now is more mature and thoughtful, less reliant on crutches like ultra-saturated colors and punch-you-in-the-face foregrounds.
The incredible resurgence of analog film photography along with the ever-increasing popularity of YouTube has been a driving force in my professional success and my continued passion for the craft. Through the wonderful community around film photography, I have been lucky to meet other passionate photographers, reach new audiences with my work, share my knowledge with aspiring shooters, and do my part to push the community and craft forward. I’m grateful for the path I’ve traveled to be where I am today and I can’t wait to start another day creating photos.
