Bio
Six years ago I never would have thought that I would be a professional nature and landscape photographer trying to inspire people through imagery and art. I had always loved the art of photography and admired the artistry of capturing mood, the story, and the sheer beauty the world has to offer but I never invested in myself or the art the way I do today. I can remember leafing through National Geographic’s' magazines and admiring the stunning photographs of the different cultures, landscapes and other natural elements of this world at a very young age. Honestly, for the longest time I thought the admiration was because of the photographer’s ability to travel to distant lands not for the quality of the photograph or the skills it took to create it…I was wrong.
During most of my life I had a “Point and Shoot” camera that was always on auto and really only used for the usual family BBQs or events; I never explored it or the art of photography. Everyone always told me that my photos were good but I just thanked them and went on with life. It wasn’t until I got severely hurt in a car accident that I started exploring photography as a hobby. When the car accident happened late in 2009, I was laid up with little feeling and mobility for 19 months. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a busy body that never stops, so being confined for so long made me feel like I was trapped. Photography was one subject that I was able to read about that kept my mind focused on something other than the pain that I was enduring. So I invested in a better camera with interchangeable lenses, the Nikon D60…suddenly my world changed. I instantly fell in love with the camera and the results but what I really loved was the calming peace I felt when I was able to get out shooting. That same sense of peace occurred when I performed edits and whenever I viewed the images. In a way, photography was a form of positive healing for me.
What I’ve learned over the years is that photography is so much more than a click of a shutter and a resulting picture. Photography is about the study of light, the study of angles, a story, an emotion, a reflection of someone personality, the ability to capture those moments for eternity and the study of an environment. In my opinion, photography is the story of the world that continuously moving and interacting around us.
As I grew stronger as a photographer, I noticed that I see the world in a completely different manner than I once did. I see the tenderness of a mother's love as she gently pushes the hair out of her child’s face. I see the years of hardship in the winkles and dirt on the faces of the homeless. I see the heartbreak of the soldiers as they depart from their families, while they try to remain brave and courageous. I see the symmetry of a butterflies wings, the consistency of the hair that covers an animal’s body and I see all of the small natural details that form the vast landscapes of our world. All of these beautiful details that are encompassed in a person, a being, an area or someone’s story are key to making photography meaningful, artful and inspiring.
Personally, I have always been a nature lover and I spend a lot of time out hiking, camping and exploring the wilderness along the east coast any chance I get. Having this level of comfort in nature and a passion for photography makes the field of nature and landscape photography perfect for me. Every cycle or season, every change in the weather possesses a new challenge for me to find and exhibit the beauty of those changes. While most people pack up their belongings if rain comes during an outing, I will unpack rain gear and I keep exploring the elements; there are countless nights that I have come home soaked from rain or chilled to the core from the temperature dropping….but I loved every minute of it.
My goal as a professional landscape and nature photographer is to create art out of the natural world that surrounds us and exhibit the fine details of the objects that are normally overlooked in the daily grind. My hope is, when my photographs are viewed that the viewer not only sees the elements but feel and connects with the elements of the image; my hope is the viewer with have a sense of joy or peace. Nothing pleases me more than to know that my vision, my growth, and my work was inspiring or moving to someone else.
