Art is freeing, it can help you clear your head after a stressful day, it can capture precious moments and freeze them in time forever, and it can help you find a way to feed your family while being creative in your own way. Coming from a small town in Virginia, my dreams were always bigger and broader than the dozen or so stop light town where I come from. I used art as an escape, if only figuratively, to create and pave a way for me travel, pay the bills, and serve as a mental health therapy session. Real Estate Photography started my professional photography career and still is one of my main sources of income but I quickly found success in fine art of Boudoir, capturing the beauty of a woman in an intimate setting in my unique way!

Learning to Click with Dawn Howeth was the first professional course I took, quickly followed by online courses and small workshops here and there. I found myself shooting real-estate for a local realtor and friend, Charlene, which prompted me to realize that I needed to learn to master this craft if other people were depending on my talent to make them money! I dove deep in to YouTube tutorials and peers in the industry, Brandon Vos of Vos Studios was one of the people I first reached out to and he was always willing to answer my never ending list of questions. Anytime I got in the shower, I turned on a YouTube tutorial! Anytime I was at the gym running or biking in the cardio theatre, I was watching a tutorial. I was hooked… and I still am!

It wasn’t until someone close to my family asked me to take some intimate portraits for her husband as a surprise on their anniversary that I began to even consider being a boudoir photographer! Her shoot showed me that I could, through my photography, help someone feel great and amazing by capturing their beauty in an intimate setting. The shoots were powerful, women laughed as I helped break the ice with jokes during our warm up shooting and cried at the end when I gave them a sneak peek of what was to come! This quickly replaced my need and desire to help people, a hole that was left after I turned in my badge and gun to peruse an entrepreneur path.

I thought, “I’m a guy, that’s a job only women can be successful at!” I sometimes told myself , “Let that go… it won’t happen.” Well, it did happen… and I killed it! Again, I launched myself down a rabbit hole of tutorials on how to shoot and process boudoir photos! I contacted everyone that would talk to me to discuss lighting, shooting locations, and costs! Eventually I realized that all this info was great, but I needed to develop my own style.

I spent money on lighting, reflectors, props, more lighting, more reflectors and more props, only to discover that my dark and moody style that I achieve by shooting mostly natural light or constant light, was the best option for me. Incorporating in elements of Rembrandt lighting for portraits and the dark shadows that I look for in street photography, inspired by Fan Ho from Hong Kong, I adopted some of those elements in to my boudoir photography and am in love with the results.

I turned a creative hobby in to a passion that feeds my family and helps daily with my mental health! Some days I’ll find myself stressed and unable to focus, editing a photo or shooting a sunset always sets me free and gives me that mental break that allows me to refocus and push forward. It provides me and my customers a way to see the world or themselves forever, whether its in a digital file or a luxury print. I hope to see you soon in front of my camera!