I often say I began photography before I ever picked up a camera. As a child, looking through my parents’ coffee table books, I flipped photos of the twentieth century’s most beautiful and tragic moments. This is how I started to learn what makes an image photographic.

My hobby got serious in high school, which is featured primarily under the Writing, Journalism, and Publishing page of my portfolio. Alongside this path, I also maintained a freelance journalism career; I conducted private photo shoots, assisted on two weddings, and freelanced for a local newspaper, East Penn Press. With my Sony A6000, and later my Sony A7RII, I traveled Pennsylvania and beyond with the intention of treating each assignment as if it were going to go in National Geographic. I learned self-direction and both how to work in solitude while trying to insert myself into a community, gaining the trust of my subjects.

As a hobby photographer, I pursue film photography with an Olympus OM 1, and have become acquainted with the at-home development process. Film photography is a fickle and dated art, and has taught me what it means to fail for reasons out of my control, but still keep going.

Photography will always be my first love, and I hope that fact can be seen through the images I present.