ABOUT ME
I teach photography privately to individuals and at Youth in Focus, and I work on my own personal series of photography. These activities are my hobbies and passion projects outside of my marketing career.
Most of my favorite books, podcasts, shows, and movies are a combination of cosmology, philosophy, and psychology (Existensial Physics, Star Talk Radio, Star Trek, Arrival, Interstellar, and more).
MY PHOTOGRAPHY BACKGROUND
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1998 - My first photographic experience was building a pinhole camera for the 6th-grade science fair. The images faded away before I presented my project and thus, I received an F grade, but it sparked a curiosity within me that is still burning.
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2001 - In high school, I learned the science of photography with film and darkroom work. I figured out how to make those pinhole images permanent. I photographed with a Canon Elan 7N and always had my 50mm lens on.
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2004 - I was in deep with photography, it even superseded my love of painting. This was the first year that I earned money from my art: a color print photograph of a Venice alleyway and a BW print of a New Orleans window display. I used my photography portfolio to get into art school.
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2008 - I obtained such a versatile amount of credits in photography, digital design, project management, branding, and more, that it's best to call my Bachelors of Fine Art a "creative independent studies" degree. I went digital and bought a Canon 5D and a 100MM 2.8. I started teaching photography on the side.
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2010 - I received by Masters and I started a business creating content for marketing departments. One of my largest clients was a university, and while working on educational campaigns and event marketing, I also taught photography there.
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2013 - I grew the marketing planning arm of my business and that minimized my time with the content creation side. I bought a new Canon 5D, the Mark III, and photographed my travels, lifestyle, products, and even for families. I began teaching photography privately.
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2016 - My marketing services became more strategy-driven, the clients became more technology focused, and I slowly stopped photographing for hire - there just wasn't any time. I started teaching photography to teenagers at a nonprofit.
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2018 - I shut down my marketing business and became a full-time marketing employee at a tech startup. I continued to teach at the nonprofit and privately after work, but I was tired of photographing and I took a year-long break from it.
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2021 - While remotely working for a major equipment manufacturer, I become well versed in online conferencing so I started teaching photography online. This outreach ended up enriching my life during a very scary time and helping others do the same.
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Present - I focus on balancing my time and energy between my tech marketing career at a Fortune 500 company and my creative personal time photographing and teaching others. I now photograph with a Canon R6 setup and every time I pick it up I am amazed by how different it is from that pinhole camera I built all those years ago.
I hope photography can be something of importance to you as well. If you need help with that, contact me, [email protected]