About Me
My life so far has been one less ordinary. As a small child, I discovered the joy of drawing and soon thereafter, the house was full of little pieces of paper with stick figures and geometric shapes of various flavors. It was my true outlet.
As time went on, my technique refined and by the time I was in fifth grade, I was sketching political cartoons and portraits. The human face has always been one of my favorite subjects. The eyes, as the old adage goes, are the windows to the soul and tell so much about the person. I started to strive for realism.
When I got to high school, I decided I wanted to go to art school and develop my style. My parents and teachers were very encouraging and I was pretty excited, albeit not very ambitious about it. My main influences were Alan Magee, H.R. Giger, Stephen Gammell, and Salvador Dali and it turned into a real weird mix after a while.
During my last two years in high school, my love for art and desire to go to art school was eventually outweighed by my desire to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces and in 1996 I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. Three days after graduation I was standing at attention before drill instructors in MCRD San Diego. I went on to serve four honorable years in a helicopter infantry unit.
Upon completion of my tour in the Corps, I went back to Iowa and enrolled in the graphic design program at Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo, Iowa. It was a struggle.
I knew nothing about computers and had to push myself on a daily basis to learn. A month before graduation, I was redeployed with my National Guard unit and spent six months in the Sinai desert. During this time, I focused on my photography. My first photography book that I purchased right before Egypt was the National Geographic Field Guide by Peter K. Burian and Robert Caputo and I read through it twice. I had officially fallen in love with the art of photography.
After returning to Iowa, I completed the Professional Photography program at Hawkeye winning the Top Five Student Award in 2005 and having two Honorable Mentions for work submitted at the 2005 Heart of America convention in Kansas City, MO.
In 2006 I had the opportunity to shoot freelance at the State Wresting Championships in Des Moines, IA as well as doing work for Wartburg College in Waverly, IA. In the summer of 2006, I had the privilege of covering the Iowa Games in Ames, IA.
In 2007 I moved to Tennessee where I worked for Jewelry Television in Knoxville as a Commercial Product Photographer shooting mainly high-dollar gemstones and jewelry.
I worked with a great crew and consider this one of my favorite jobs I’ve ever had.
In 2008 I moved back to Iowa and have since worked for several portrait studios here in Cedar Rapids. I struck out on my own in the spring of 2009. My current endeavors include work for Kirkwood Community College as well as my artistic photography and portrait work.
Philosophy
I am a strong believer in quality work. I want to provide my clients with a superb product that they won’t be tired of looking at. I don’t want to be a contributor to the “junk-photography” market.
