I was 10 when I got my first camera (a Kodak Instamatic), and I've had one in my hand ever since. My friends used to make fun of me because I was never without a camera; now they all want copies! Photography has been and continues to be my life-long passion. Combining creativity, vision, skill, and technology to create art never gets old to me, and I'm still as excited about photography as that 10-year-old boy was all those years ago.
The pursuit of photographic excellence has been my goal for decades, and I'm proud of my success -- although I still learn something new about the art form every day! I started winning blue ribbons at the fair when I was a teenager, and I also shot for my middle and high school annuals. I was fortunate enough to attend a high school that had a professional darkroom, where I spent countless hours learning to develop film, and to have a classmate whose father was a photographer for the New York Times, from whom I was able to absorb important foundational technique. I pored over magazines and books and visited camera stores (including every camera store in New York, Chicago, and L.A.). I shot for my college annual and have continued to explore and shoot at every opportunity.
Nationally, I earned a third place finish in Nikon’s Picture America Contest, and another third place finish in Popular Photography’s Annual Compact Camera Photo Contest. Twentieth Century Fox bought my original photo Code Talker, which can currently be seen on the set of its hit show The Resident, airing Monday nights on Fox. I regularly post to Instagram where a larger body of content is on display. Over the past several years, I’ve visited 46 states and continue to capture images of the people and places I encounter from coast to coast.
I doubt my parents had any idea how profoundly that long-ago birthday present would shape my life, but that little Kodak is hands-down the most meaningful gift I ever received.