In 2012 I traveled to Japan with Frontiersmen Media for work on a film project. We explored the Tokyo meat auction, the world famous fish market, a quiet Wagyu ranch on the northern island of Hokkaido, and soaked in the lavishness that is Ginza, Tokyo. Our reward for eight fast paced days of filming and travel was to experience some world class cuisine. Sushi, shabu-shabu, octopus pizza...we did it all.
What does it mean to point a camera at an individual and capture an instant? How much or little does a portrait say about what is behind the eyes or in the heart of the subject?
I don't know the answer to those questions.
My approach to portrait photography is to be honest and simple while still being deliberate and thoughtful.
I'm working on it.
Drive down a country road, flip a coin at each intersection, drive more, stop, photograph, repeat. As a human and a photographer, it's been a struggle learning to let go of the desire to be in control. To observe, to listen, to experience, to be in the moment.
Live music, to me, is somewhat magical. A blur, a fleeting moment, an altered state. The moment goes by so quickly. Nights begin and end. Bands form and break up. I wonder if it's possible to capture some tiny piece of energy in one strum, one drum hit, one breath, one scream, and save that energy for future reference. Can the silence of an image carry a sliver of the powerful moment that image represents, preserved as a supplement to memory, a documentation of what was?
I don't shoot weddings. Except when I do.
I offer wedding photography services to friends and family as well as to professional wedding photographers who require a second photographer or an assistant.
My approach to wedding photography is that of a documentarian rather than that of an art director. My goal is to provide the highest quality photographs I can without directing the show. Candid, honest moments, faces, a story. Heartfelt expression. That, to me, is what weddings are all about.
Images from the Brass Rail in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Emotion. Energy. Noise.
These are the things that I love about live music, and these are the things that I try to document in my photographs. These are the things that happen between the smoking patio and the graffitied up bathroom. Sweat and Pabst Blue Ribbon. Friends and rivals. Scenesters and the tragically hip. The scorching moment and the inevitability of the burnout...or the fade away. The Brass Rail is all of these things. It is home and an escape.
