mission — 

My mission as a photographer and artist is to tell stories by utilizing a variety of different mediums to capture the human spirit and highlight the beauty in the overlooked.

Since I was a child, I’ve been fascinated with stories. Not just books or movies, but the stories that are told through a series of photographs or a string of text messages between friends. We as humans are programmed to want stories. They not only build character but make us feel seen and understood. We connect through story. We grow through story. We develop through story. So much of who I am today is because of the stories I’ve consumed that have helped me better understand myself and the world around me.

Part of what I find so thrilling about stories is that they can be told and expressed in an infinite amount of ways. You can write five hundred pages about two people falling in love, but you could also photograph a wedding and reach the same conclusion. Paint a picture, craft a sculpture, write a song, film a movie. The possibilities are endless, and each different medium and each different person will express the human spirit in unique ways. It’s why we adapt books into films or why we turn films into musicals. Humans are complex individuals, and their lives cannot be fully understood in one single medium. They are meant to be explored through a thousand different lenses and perspectives, and each one offers something new.

Often the most beautiful stories are told about people or places or things that seem to be the most overlooked, unappreciated, or undervalued. Sometimes the best creations come out of subject matter that doesn’t make the most sense. A musical about War and Peace, a film about a lonely talking shell, an album about a fictional, oppressive religious order. The ways I have learned the most about myself is through engaging with stories and people that challenge how I view the world, that challenge who I want to be, that challenge my perspective to change. I’ve found so much beauty and joy in forcing myself to reconsider the things I hold to be true, to question and reassess and embrace a new idea because of a story. There is so much beauty in the things that are overlooked simply because they don’t fit into society’s idea of a perfect world.

Perfection is overrated. What I want is to embrace a messy life.

I want a real life full of overlooked moments and people and stories. I want to remember how it felt when my mom drove us home from a long day at the waterpark and we were so tired we couldn’t stay awake. I want to remember what it looked like when confetti rained down on me while my favorite song was playing. I want to remember late night conversations over white wine, the sounds of my dad washing dishes, the first bites of a meal cooked for me by my best friend. There are stories in each of these moments, some that I’ll never be able to fully express or share, but I know they exist. And I strive to express these kinds of stories from my own life but also from the lives of the people I meet. Because the human spirit is infinite, and the only way we will ever be able to understand who we are is by showing up, stepping out, and allowing the rest of the world to see us as we truly are. To tell our story. To tell your story.

on collaboration —

In a world where everyone is trying to make their story heard, it can be difficult to feel like your voice matters. It can feel overwhelming to find someone to tell your story, and to tell it in a way that is both respectful and authentic. It’s even more challenging to find someone who is able to turn your story into art. For a long time I have been hesitant to tell my own story because it didn’t feel good enough, pretty enough, important enough. When everyone is vying for attention and we’re all screaming at the sky, how will we ever feel seen as individuals? How does your story stand out? How do we turn our story into something beautiful?

Simply put, I have always aimed to tell stories collaboratively. Even though I am an artist, my art only exists because of the people I come in contact with. My photographs only exist because someone else wanted me to tell their story. My writing is an amalgamation of thousands of people and stories and connections that have intersected at the perfect moment for me to create something that expresses the impact those things have had on my own life. We cannot be humans alone, therefore our stories cannot exist in a vacuum. That is why I always aim to create in tandem. To listen to other people, to give other people the power and space to aid in my creativity. To tell their story, even if I am the medium.

The only way we can truly understand each other is through community. I create in community even as I am sitting alone. That means my artistic process is open and messy and experimental. I don’t like doing the same thing twice and I love being able to come up with new ideas based on the things my clients suggest. That means my portfolio is all over the place. That means I don’t have a single niche. And that may also mean that I’m not right for a particular project.

People like consistency and uniformity, but I’ve always been the type of person to be consistently inconsistent. For someone who struggles with any and all types of change, I change a lot. Like, a lot a lot.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not capable. I think often we assume that people who aren’t specialized aren’t talented or knowledgable, and I hope to challenge that notion. I’ve been studying my craft for over a decade now, and I have more experience than I ever expected to have. This doesn’t mean I’m not always growing and learning, but it does mean I finally have confidence in myself. I know my worth, and that means I can stop spending my time worrying whether or not I’m good enough and start worrying about how I can be the best version of myself for any given project.

All I want to do is tell stories. I would be honored if you’d let me tell yours.