I have always been fascinated by nature. Although I grew up in a city, there were always parks and forests and creeks to explore. Camping, hiking, and immersing myself in nature were always passions. Around the age of 15 I got my first camera and the medium immediately made sense to me. I loved that I now had the ability to capture the natural world in a way that allowed other people to see the beauty that I did.
I have had very little formal training in photography. Outside of two semesters in high school where I learned the basics of lighting and composition, I have been essentially self-taught and my favorite subject has always been the natural world. I have moved from Ohio to North Carolina to Colorado to China and back and everywhere I went my camera came with me.
When I moved from Ohio to North Carolina to study marine biology I was enchanted by the ocean, both by what was living in the sea as well as the way light reflected off the surface lighting everything around. After graduating I took a job in Colorado and once again my camera came with me.
In Colorado I was confronted with mountains. These massive peaks inspired me like no subject ever had. It was in Colorado where I knew that my passion for the outdoors would surpass anything else. With my camera, I hiked, climbed, explored and shot. In the process, I formed an emotional relationship with the grand landscapes of the American southwest.
I spent all of 2014 living in Shanghai. China is very unique in that you can experience the ancient and the modern simultaneously. You can go to a park and watch people practice Tai chi, a 500-year old martial art, right next to the most modern architecture in the world. The dichotomy between old and new made me appreciate the transience of life.
I realized that I needed to combine my passion for the outdoors with this appreciation for the ephemeral quality of nature. Whether from a changing climate, development, or a million years of wind and water acting on its surface, the natural world won’t look the same for future generations as it does for us. I have decided to devote my life to capturing images of the natural world preserving the history of this planet so that future generations can look back and see where we came from.
When I take a photograph, I try to capture the world but I also try to capture moments that will never exist again; a rainstorm, a bolt of lightning, a bird taking flight, moments that only I experience. I want to share these experiences with the world through my photography. Everywhere I go I see beauty and I want to capture that beauty for others.
Monterey, California