Why I shoot

Born in Pennsylvania, I grew up surrounded by nature. Hiking, kayaking, and movies with fantastic cinematics (cue, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”) always inspired me to appreciate the details in everyday life.

I grew up snapping photos on my phone and a little Canon point-and-shoot camera. My first YouTube video was posted when I was 16 (don’t go searching for it, it may have fallen into a black hole) and I’ve been hooked on creating since.

Snowboarding made me appreciate the small, unnoticed things that people usually are too distracted to notice. The tiny snowflakes falling around me, the chill of the mountain in my bones, and the blissful silence of a below-zero night on the trail solidified it for me: I was going to appreciate all life had to offer.

When I started my photo journey I sponged everything I could from YouTube videos and creators like Evan Ranft and North Borders. I read up on the techniques of ISO and shutter speed. I tried having everything I could read memorized, 6 months before I bought my first “professional” camera.

It was terrible when I pressed the shutter for the first time. I don’t think I even have my first photos, they were that bad. But there was a spark that made me want to keep taking photos. Little flowers on a redbud branch, a new recipe made with my family, even a vintage car that was only cool because of the paint job. Everything in life has a little piece of beauty to it. I want to capture that in my photos and help you experience that.