who photographs the photographer?
it’s me. i photograph me.
I just love telling stories.
Be it films or photography, the medium matters not.
I’ve never felt fully comfortable telling stories about myself. In this social-media-world as we know it I’ve found myself in the background more often than not, a position that I am not looking to vacate. However, I’m also stuck in the position of being obsessed with telling stories. So, I tell other people’s stories!
My career began in the documentary field as a filmmaker. These days I focus mainly on weddings, they tend to be a bit more fun. Because of my roots in storytelling I’ve gravitated toward a documentary approach in everything I create. Capturing the present for the future. I’ve been lucky enough to get to practice this approach over the past decade as a wedding photographer. In the midst of giant, earth changing moments I’ve tried to focus on the small ones. The light streaming in a certain way, quick glances and smiles exchanged, a whisper here and there.
I like to think of myself as a professional observer. Someone that- if you can believe it- just tags along as a way of life. I wander this great state, finding hidden nooks and crannies to make art in. Along the way I click a little button on a weird box and hey, out comes some neat images! I’ve seen hundreds of unions, weddings, parties, always with a few legal documents strewn about it seems.
I’ve never felt fully comfortable telling stories about myself. In this social-media-world as we know it I’ve found myself in the background more often than not, a position that I am not looking to vacate. However, I’m also stuck in the position of being obsessed with telling stories. So, I tell other people’s stories!
My career began in the documentary field as a filmmaker. These days I focus mainly on weddings, they tend to be a bit more fun. Because of my roots in storytelling I’ve gravitated towards a documentary approach in everything I create. Capturing the present for the future. I’ve been lucky enough to get to practice this approach over the past decade as a wedding photographer. In the midst of giant, earth changing moments I’ve tried to focus on the small ones. The light streaming in a certain way, quick
glances and smiles exchanged, a whisper here and there.
I like to think of myself as a professional observer. Someone that- if you can believe it- just tags along as a way of life. I wander this great state, finding hidden nooks and crannies to make art in. Along the way I click a little button on a weird box and hey, out comes some neat images! I’ve seen hundreds of unions, weddings, parties, always with a few legal documents strewn about it seems.
some of my favorite memories
from the wondrous mix of matter and electricity that we call
Life
The stage that I am currently in.
It’s the diaper, carseat, dropping off and picking up point. Chances are it doesn’t look like your stage of life. But some day, it may. Back when my life looked a bit more like yours I didn’t think too much about saving things for the future. Time moved a lot slower, if anything the world felt a bit static. Big events would come and go but for the most part I stayed the same.
Then came Jo. Suddenly, time was bolting. It became painfully apparent how important it was (is, continues to be) to document things for the future. Every moment since she was born has felt like I’m floating through the past. Things change so quickly there’s barely enough time to adjust, to get my feet on the ground.
It’s just all moving so fast.
I’ve asked quite a few folks, “why have a wedding? If you just wanted to get married you would go to a courthouse, so why put all this money, effort, and time into one day?”
It always comes back to community. Each and every time, community community community. Weddings are a violent colliding of worlds, a wish for people to meet and at the very least get along, the moment of letting go and hoping against hope that everything you’ve built doesn’t come crashing down around you. A trust in the future. An utterly terrifying, momentous, beautifully short 12ish hours of everyone you hold tight to your chest existing in the same space and time.
Then it passes. The day ends. That initial bang fades, simmering for decades. Ripples of what you’ve built will travel through centuries. I believe that deserves to be documented in an honest, true to life form.
For the future, for my kids, and for yours.
the wedding isn’t the story
The true story is much longer, much quieter. For many it lasts a lifetime.
If I’m to be honest, and after a few hundred weddings I may be as close to an expert as you’ll get, the wedding is just the end of the beginning. It’s simply a choice, a commitment to finish the story, to not set it down or put it away when your eyes get tired. A promise to pull out the blanket and flashlight, fashion a makeshift tent, and read through the night.