Becoming a Photographer-- My Story
My story of becoming the photographer I am happened mostly by accident. I love the arts and practiced in the fine arts from the time I was 8 years old— I sat down and taught myself to draw working at it every day— I didn’t have a natural talent and had to work hard to achieve a level of goodness that got me into advanced courses in my high school. Those advance courses is when a camera was put in my hand, we had to photograph anything we wanted to create, as a reference but also as a way to see if we could create compositions that were compelling.
I was hooked on that camera fairly instantly, by my senior year I was doing paid photography work and took my first true photography course in college— I accidentally enrolled in an intermediate course with professional wedding photographers who had years of experience when I at the time didn’t even have an editing program or know what raw was.
I learned a lot in that course, and by my sophomore year I was headed abroad for the first time as a photographers assistant where I would be heading to fifteen foreign countries over the course of 3 and half months— I even developed my business name in Capetown, South Africa in October of 2012— That time made me a much better photographer and when I returned home I started photographing a lot of events weddings, rodeos, and charity functions; which I still do to this day.
It’s been thirteen years for me now as a professional photographer, and a lot has changed from when I started. I discovered my style to be photojournalistic in nature and have published books, seen my work in magazines, as well as brochures, and billboards all things I never imagine in high school. My clients are amazing people I have spent hours with from travel to rodeo, and they have truly made my career by providing me a variety of work; from weddings to commercial. It is incredibly humbling to be a part of their moments in arenas to their weddings, to watching their children enter the family business, and capturing their careers in ways they dream.
As photographers we have truly special powers and I love getting to bring smiles, tears, and joy to others through my images.