After graduating from Cal Poly with a degree in design, I decided to stay in San Luis Obispo, one of the few places in my life that truly felt like home. At the same time, I couldn’t have gotten a better educational experience for photography than growing up in Santa Barbara, near Brooks Institute. As a quiet shy person with an eye for detail, this profession seemed perfect from an early age. Light, shadow, color, texture, capturing the moment, these are all important things for a photographer to notice, and they come naturally to me.
 
Few people think about how photographers can be characterized as cool, yet still be nerdy. Cameras are expensive toys with tons of numerical settings, all of which are important to get that perfect image. You can get a decent photo on any automatic setting, but to get the best image you really have to dig deep, tinker, experiment, and play with a camera, as well as the darkroom. Knowing your way around a camera and having a good eye are only part of the picture. You still need to know how to setup a shot. Sure, you could just follow 2 people around and push a button, but to really capture the moment a photographer has to interact with and influence the stage and actors.