ABOUT THE ARTIST
I love photographing people no matter what age or what background it is my pleasure to interact and make you feel comfortable in front of the camera. Whether it be a simple portrait session or photographing your wedding I can customize and work with you to get exactly what you are looking for for the final product. My motto is Quality over Quantity and I am very particular on how my final images look before sending them out to a client. When you work with me I know you will feel comfortable in getting the image that you will cherish for a lifetime.
My Background: I have always wanted to do something in the creative arts at a young age. I was the first one at my school to learn Adobe Photoshop and even helped the Art teacher learn how to use it. After High School I got my Associates Degree in Computer Multimedia, but I ended up joining The United States Marine Corps and got assigned as a Combat Photographer. I instantly fell in love with photography and capturing the moments and the personality of individuals that I photographed.
Over the past 20 years I have learned a wide range of photographic techniques to enhance my photography skills. Working as a photographer for portrait studios like Bill Buttram Photography in Fredericksburg, VA helped me understand about portraiture, lighting, and posing. I continue to self educate myself through online courses and other practical learning to add new creative techniques in photography to provide to my clients.
My Family: I am originally from Missouri where I grew up with my parents and older sister, twin brother, and younger brother. I moved to Virginia due to being assigned at Quantico, VA in 2001 and have been a resident of VA since. I have been living in Locust Grove, VA since 2012 and currently live there with my lovely wife and kids. Between the two of us we have six children ranging from 6-21. So needless to say we keep busy and I have a lot of models on hand to test new photography techniques.
My Hobbies: I only have a couple hobbies I am truly passionate about. One of those is Halloween!! I provide a huge home yard display/haunt for my community every year for the past 6 years. This allow me to do something fun for my community and also gather non-perishable food donations for my local food pantry. I usually collect a full coffins worth of food each year. The other hobby that I recently picked up has been toy photography. When I was younger I collected Action Figures and kept them in their package and displayed, but now I open my collection of Star Wars and DC Figures and have fun “playing” and setting up fun scenes to photograph.
I also like to give back to my community with my photography as well. I have volunteered my photography services to the Orange County, VA Animal Shelter and the Fredericksburg SPCA to help animals in the shelter get adopted through pet portrait photography. I also volunteer my photography services to other fundraising events to help those running it to have photographs to advertise for the next years event.