About

I'd like to tell you that I see the world different than everyone else, but that's not true. I know where my interest lies.        I know I love colors, structures, and a good story. Just like a lot of you.

My journey in photography started briefly in middle school. I took a pretty standard photography class. We built pinhole camera and developed our own film. It was fun, but it wasn't enough to hold my attention at age twelve. I can remember in high school asking my parents for a digital camera, but it wasn't until after that my journey began with film and digital photography.

I was helping out some friends over at the Fort Collins Artery with a project. I was probably somewhere between nineteen and twenty, building some cheap stage set up for their music experiment. I can remember John asking me what kind of art I make and responding that I don't, I was just building things. Throughout that conversation it came up that I still had this old camera that was my moms.

I'd never really done art before, at least what my definition of art was at the time. It never clicked as an adolescent. I can remember thinking throughout high school "why do we care about art"? 

I busted this Minolta X-370 out of the case after seven years or so. I'd looked on flickr for a little inspiration, learned how to do double exposures directly on the film, and somehow came out with a few beautiful images right off the bat. I took them over to show my friends, after getting them developed, and I can remember one of the girls telling me it was so beautiful that she's going to cry.

It was probably more than five or six years later before I had another photo I was actually proud of. I was shooting a decent amount of film and I had gotten my first digital. A Canon SL1, I remember no matter what I'd do with this camera, I could never get anything I liked out of it. I had it for a little over a year and I had decided this is something I'm still interested in, but it was time for a change. 

I sold the SL1 and went with the Canon 6D after careful consideration and research. I started loving it again. I can remember the volume of additional color I was able to explore while editing was exciting for the first time. 

I met someone during this time as well. We started seeing each other and it turned out they were a very talented photographer as well. We started going to photography events and meeting people to shoot with pretty regularly. We went our separate ways, but we still keep in contact here and there. We actually shot a wedding together a few years later. I learned a lot.

While attending these photography events, I met my friend Caroline and she turned into one of my closest friends during this period of my life. We planned and executed a good amount of shoots over the period of about three years, until she moved to Denver. Some of these shoots will continue to be my favorites due to the emotional conviction and story telling that are incorporated in the images. 

We lost touch during COVID as many of us did, but we still reached out every here and there. I ended up going to art school at CSU during this time as well. We made plans to get together after the New Year 2021-2022. I sent a few unanswered messages, but the last one will always get me. "Hey, I do miss you. Like, really miss you as a whole". In my head, I had questioned if she just didn't have the time or want to be friends anymore for whatever reason of growing up or growing apart. It was close to a year after I had heard from her last that I found out she had passed through mutual friends. I reached out to her sister and she told me my photos were always her favorite and I cried even harder. The things I learned with Caroline in life and photography were some of the most meaningful.

Back in the Spring of 2019 I was attending classes at Front Range Community College. I had this instructor for two of my classes, Mythology and Art History. First day of class he showed us the same powerpoint for both of the classes of gummy bears and worms marching in a gif. It makes sense now at least. Its all about impression and interpretation. Just his silly way of getting us all to connect themes. Literally, two fifty minute classes talking about the relation of these two simple things to their application to Mythology and Art History. Honestly, the dude killed it. I realized during this period how important art and photography were to me. I asked him if there was anyone in the art department that I could have look over my images and maybe offer some advice, so I set a meeting with the photo instructor. 

It was quick, we sat down, I showed him a collection of my work on I think a powerpoint, and he said something like "the only thing more you can do is go to art school". So that's what I did. I had something like 20 days until the application was due. I remember going to my parent's and telling them I think I'm going to transfer and go to art school, expecting some typical parent response, but they were actually excited with my choice to pursue photography. 

I started at CSU Fall of 2019, so I didn't get the best college experience. I was already 25 so I was looking to get a lot out of the classes, but I only got a semester and a half until COVID. It was a fine experience, I had good instructors and everything, but my interest was in the experience. I already knew this. I worked my way through and picked up some other artistic interests like painting as well. I also decided to add some other production work to my portfolio so I got into video and audio. Working for organizations like RamVision and KSCU while going to school. During my time I created Foolz Fest at KCSU and they just had their 4th annual actually. 

During my senior year, while people are coming out of their COVID slumber, I started bartending at "The World Famous Surfside 7" and working wedding and events here and there. 

Since then, I've continued to work on my art. My interests continue to be how a story can be told though image, but I do still ask myself from time to time again, in different contexts "why do we care about art"?