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Starting a blog in 2023: an exercise in futility, or creative genius?
A digital diary detailing projects, prose and passion. And alliteration. May 6, 2023 Timing is everything—and if I had to guess, I’d say mine feels like it’s perpetually 5-10 years behind. I figured out I wanted to become a professional photographer 10 years into an engineering career. I got on Facebook/IG a few years after the peak social media photography boom. I’m…
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Dim Sum Lights
What began as a simple, cheeky visual of bao buns tucked inside a heart-shaped chocolate box quickly opened the door to a more layered conversation. The original spark for this short fashion film was playful and self-contained: a woman celebrating herself on Valentine’s Day, no partner required, indulging unapologetically in her favorite cuisine. At its core, the piece was about self-romance and…
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Spain
Making photographs has always been the way in which I can blend all my interests together in the best way — history, art history, architecture, anthropology, color, culture, all layered into a single frame. It’s the one place I can pay attention to how humans move through space, how buildings guide us, how light changes the story, and how color pulls everything…
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Sisters in Suburbia
This 4th of July, Jill and Virginia—two farm-raised dynamos from just outside Ames, Iowa—set off on their annual getaway to the glamorous Big City. With purses stuffed full of Kleenex and Werther’s Originals, and brimming with confidence only a lifetime of 4H ribbons can bring, they hit the town in search of that star-spangled sparkle. First stop: hot dogs at Roake’s, where…
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Bleach & Birds: A Tale of Two Approaches
At the start of the year, I made a promise to myself: embrace new challenges and push beyond my comfort zone. One of my most recent projects put that commitment to the test, expanding my skills in CGI and redefining how I approach storytelling through photography. Mob Wife: A CGI-Infused Mock Campaign The concept for this project started with Katherine, a Los…
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Case Study: Keeping Up With The Joneses
What do you get when you take an idiom and add a metaphor? The result is a visual cautionary tale about the perils of “Keeping Up With The Joneses.” This personal project has been simmering in my mind for quite some time, and I’m thrilled with how it finally came together. I aimed to blend conceptual humor with strategic composition to tell…
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The Way We Speak
In January 2023, I received an inquiry from writer-director Ian Ebright, a Seattle-base filmmaker who was filming his first feature here in Portland. Ian wanted to know if I’d be interested in shooting the key art and some character portraits for the film, The Way We Speak. After our first meeting, Ian passed along the script and I knew immediately this was…
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Blown Away
I first encountered Andi Kovel on Netflix’s “Blown Away” series, a reality competition show where she and 9 other artists introduced me to the amazing world of glass blowing. A fellow East Coaster turned Portland transplant, I felt an immediate connection to Andi—and not just because of our shared geographical roots, but also our love of design. In fact, what drew me…
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Talk Of The Ton
(This blog entry is reposted from the previous incarnation of the blog, published 2022) I recently returned from a summer holiday in England, where I spent my time exploring quaint villages, eating too many steak and ale pies, and visiting a number of stately homes. One of the things I learned on this adventure was that visiting these estates is not a…
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Speak Easy
(This blog entry is reposted from the previous incarnation of the blog, published 2022) Amidst the pandemic, an interesting trend has made a comeback: the speakeasy. It’s unclear just exactly what has sparked this resurgence—perhaps the pandemic has created a desire for novelty. Maybe our collective lack of intimacy has prompted a demand for these rebellious confined and secluded spaces. Or maybe…
Art On The Precipice 