Destination Love

I pursue love. Capturing love from behind a camera is central to my passion for photography. I strive to capture love in my photography whether it be in the Everglades, Uganda, Sudan, Haiti, underwater, the streets of Miami, or in any place where I am taking photos. Love is what inspires me to be a photographer, and If my life is to have a purpose may it be a celebration of love. Weddings are the celebration of love between two people and the opportunity to capture this same love is just one way for me to experience love through my photography. Photography has provided me many opportunities to be a part of a love that is far greater than myself, and it has allowed me to witness the formation of love between friends in which I can be a significant part of that celebration of love. I am grateful for these experiences and I am grateful that photography has brought me to a place where I can feel comfortable producing lasting memories of love for clients, family, and friends alike. Love has taken care of me and I love photography. I will pursue love while working for you; will you trust me to capture your love?

I am a longtime friend with the groom in these photos, and I was blessed to be asked to take photos in a place that very few publicized photographers get to take wedding photos. This is a West Point wedding, and the location alone is a gem, but when the couple's love and commitment are so evident outside of the photos, the job of a photographer is a true joy. Shooting destination weddings is a life that wedding photographers dream of and this wedding was a wonderful dream. Thank you Diego Espinosa for partnering with me on this job!

Unrequited Love

Note: Click the Panaramics for a better viewing experience and some technical details.

Wildlife and Landscapes, two loves neglected. Being in such a beautiful place as Park City, Utah and not pursuing these things has left two gaping holes in my heart that have been begging me to return and focus my attention solely on them. The effort from the photos posted here were merely by convenience. Walking into the backyard and looking around, riding a Gondola up to a ski-resort, asking only to stop once on a 36 hour round trip car ride was the extent of my effort to get these pictures. I did not hike for hours to some remote location to take these pictures, nor did I scout and wait hours on wildlife to capture them in their true winter form. I passed up most of the opportunities of being in such a place and driving by countless antelope, a bald eagle being harrassed by a black crow, and a wild moose walking clumsily through the snow to spend time and experience things that can't be replaced or re-visited once they are gone. I spent my love on my family. I would do it over and over again because as much as I would like to believe that the pictures I can take of wildlife and landscapes can love me back or even provide me with an ounce of fulfillment, I would be wrong, wrong, empty, and alone. I was excited that the family vacation would be in such an awesome place, but I was even more grateful that so much of my family would be going and that we would all be together for this great vacation. The ambitious photographer in me was frustrated at times, but I had decided before I even agreed to go that this was a family vacation and not a personal photography excursion.

While surrounded by grand things of nature the discovery of this new environment of photography was full of little things that you can only experience in such conditions. Things that while experiencing them you marvel about how awesome and powerful even they are. Little things that take away the pain and allow yourself to endure longer suffering. Little things that teach you how to cope and adapt in this challenging environment. The snot from your nose freezes on your camera. Getting warm invites condensation. Re-entering freezing temperatures can cause ice to form on the outside of your lens and camera body. Metal equipment can maintain freezing temperatures that can cause condensation to form and freeze upon entering a building. The reason your fingers stop hurting is because you can't feel them anymore. Trekking around in powder with no prior knowledge of the terrain is challenging. The grandeur landscapes beg to be captured and continue to linger in your mind asking for your return. I continue to be smitten by photography in every path that I am able to experience it, and in every direction it leads me.

The above and below red house is where 19 of us stayed as a family while in Park City, UT.

I know I love it!

Five hours on a mountain in negative ten degree weather with thirty pounds of photography gear and very little movement and a whole lot of waiting, you start to ask yourself questions. Your purpose becomes challenged by nature and your body. Having not experienced a cold like this or conditions anywhere close to this, I have to admit I was challenged, but by no means did I feel like I was pushed to some extreme or that I over-extended myself. On the contrary, I felt more conservative than I usually am and I wish I had experienced more and challenged myself more. I left with a desire to spend more time out there both on my own and taking photos of my family skiing. The pain in my hands and the lengthy wait times in between seeing family only made me think of ways to do it better and have a better plan for the next time. The experience was much more of a tease and an introduction than a pain or a bad experience. At the end of the day on the mountain, at Canyons Resort, we stumbled upon a freestyle ski and snowboard competition, I had packed my gear and was ready to go home when I saw the competition. I spent an additional hour just watching and taking pictures of the awesome stunts that I had been hoping to see all day on the mountain right in front of my eyes with no wait time in between tricks. I love it.