The first time I took a photography class was my freshman year of high school. I was immediately drawn to the stories and feelings they portrayed, without using a single word. I attempted many different styles and techniques as an eager 9th grader, like wild texture layers, dramatic lighting, intense color, and developing my own film. Some of them were successful, others were not. Thus began my adventures in photography. Since then, my photographic world has been refined and morphed along with my always changing person.

Using a Nikon D60, I am still experimenting with different techniques like lighting, composition, color, perspective, texture, and refining my Adobe Photoshop skills.

I take a good portion of my photos using Elinchrom studio lights, with black and white backgrounds. I've dabbled in using speed lights however I find that they are difficult to control and are not always consistent.

One of my favorite subjects to shoot is my good friend Izzy Carpenter. She has very distinctive features and a highly emotive face. They usually have a darker, moody tone to them, but she makes taking interesting portraits a walk in the park.

Taking photos while traveling is also one of my preferred subjects. Capturing shots while experiencing a new place can have great results. Not only do these pictures depict what the photographer is experiencing, they also can bring attention to things that are usually neglected by the local population.

Portraits of animals are one of my favored subjects as well. Animals can be very emotive. I think I’m drawn to them because of the genuinely of the expressions they convey.

I am usually drawn to photos that involve people. Portraits are some of my favorite work. There is a huge range of feeling or tone a picture can have in a portrait; from being deadly serious, to being emotively complicated, to just goofing around. A highly skilled photographer is able to capture an individual in a state that expresses a unique message.

Photos that are overly edited definitely are off putting to me. Id much prefer a photo that does not look edited and slightly boring over a photo that is over-the-top edited and fake.

Pictures that are also obviously staged are not my cup of tea. I find myself distracted by the intentional composition, instead of paying attention to the message or quality of the photograph.

I see photography as a part of my life for a long time to come. Completely dropping the subject seems blasphemous. In the modern digitally advanced world it is extremely difficult to avoid photos. Even if I stray away from it, at some point I will always find my way back to the visual expression of photography.