I've spent my adult life learning how to see people, places, and moments through a camera.
 
I didn't discover photography until after high school. It began as a hobby, but I was drawn to photographing people almost immediately. In Cleveland, where I grew up, I started photographing concerts, fascinated by the performers, the energy, and the challenge of capturing something that existed for only a moment.

At the time, I was also interested in medicine. While attending community college, I discovered that medical photography combined those two interests, and it seemed like a natural direction for me. I went on to study Biomedical Photography at Rochester Institute of Technology. It was an important part of my photographic journey, but it didn't take long for me to realize that my interests were taking me somewhere else.

A short time in Paris changed that direction. Surrounded by art, fashion, architecture, and a visual culture very different from what I had known, I realized that fashion and portrait photography were where I really wanted to be. That realization set the course for the next chapter of my career.

For more than 20 years, I worked in fashion, advertising, and editorial photography, photographing people and creating images for commercial clients. My career also took me to Paris, Milan, Shanghai, and New York. Each city exposed me to different cultures, aesthetics, design, fashion, architecture, and ways of seeing. They gave me multiple perspectives from which to visualize and create, and those experiences continue to influence how I approach photography today.

There are few things that move me more than the connection that can happen between a photographer and a subject during a portrait session. It might be an executive in their office, where we have only a short time together but are both trying to create something special, an image that reflects who they are, or perhaps how they want to be perceived. That is very different from a quick headshot with a line of people waiting their turn. Even when the time is limited, there is an interaction taking place, and I find that incredibly rewarding.

That interest in people has remained at the center of my work, even as the assignments have changed. Eventually, it led me to event photography, where I found myself drawn to the energy, variety, and unpredictability of each assignment. Today I photograph corporate events, galas, awards ceremonies, conferences, and private celebrations, as well as portraits that are often part of those events.

An event gives me a particular kind of photographic challenge. There is a schedule, a plan, and a responsibility to deliver the images the client needs. I take that seriously. But once I've covered what the assignment calls for, I look for the moments, interactions, and details that tell more of the story.

I take pride in doing more than what is expected whenever I can. But beyond that, I'm always challenging myself to create something different, to find a new perspective, a more interesting moment, or an image that is somehow better than what I've made before. The change and the challenge are what keep me here doing what I do. 🙂