A storyteller and award-winning photographer with a couple of decades of experience
Storytelling and imagination have driven me since I was a child. Over the years, I’ve let that imagination live through many art forms, and they eventually led me to photography and Photoshop. Weddings let me bring every one of those skills together: I follow your story, document it as it unfolds, and create unique pieces of digital art you’ll cherish well into your happily ever after.
Before photography, I spent years as an actor, writer, and director in theatre and film. That’s where I learned how a story is built and how to help someone feel at ease in front of an audience. I work with you the way a director works with an actor, guiding the moment instead of posing it, so we capture real emotions, not practiced expressions.
I’ve spent years teaching photographers, and I was ranked 3rd out of 80 instructors at the Shutterfest Photography conference for my methods of storytelling and unique artwork. My images have earned first and second place awards from Professional Photographers of America and a Grand Imaging Award nomination. Every one carries the same signature: a story first, a photograph second.
I’m not new to weddings. From 2008 to 2016, my wife and I ran a wedding photography business and shot more than 100 weddings together. It taught me a lot, including what I want weddings to look like for me now. Shooting every weekend wore down the creativity that made the work worth doing, and I’d rather be an artist than a factory. So I’m coming back on my own terms, with ten to twelve weddings a year. That gives me the time to really know each couple, plan the artwork before your day arrives, and give every wedding my full attention.
At home, I’m a proud but tired father of two amazing kids and a husband of 16 years. Watching the kid’s imaginations bud and thrive fills my soul with joy, and it reminds me where my own story began.
My style & approach
Directed like a scene. Felt like real life.
It starts at dinner. Before the wedding, I take you out to your favorite place and we talk: your history, your strengths, your family dynamics, the things that make you who you are. It’s how I learn how to build your day, who needs a little extra care, and who I can lean on for help when the moment calls for it.
On the day, I describe each shot like a scene in a movie and give you the emotion I want to see. Then I put you in motion and run it a few times, so you can rehearse it and I can find new angles. Moving keeps you in control instead of stiffly posed, and the tension melts away. What’s left are real expressions and a story that looks like you.
