01 — The beginning

I grew up in the suburbs of Seattle, in a little town tucked into a forest of giant evergreens. I walked to school and played outside until it got dark. My father played rock and roll on the car radio while my mother danced in the living room to disco and soul, and my best friend introduced me to punk. Nature, punk rock and soul still bleed into everything I make.

02 — New York City

Photography found me in high school, as the world was coming online. I moved to New York with the little money I had saved and a plan to become a photographer, and worked more odd jobs than I can list until I landed at a studio in Manhattan. Artists of every kind came through its doors. It showed me the business around the pictures: commercial and fashion shoots, advertising agencies, and how to present yourself and your work to a client.

03 — Learning to cut

Everyone around me needed video: music videos, interviews, events. Late at night, facing a blank timeline, cutting came naturally. But photography never left. It's still the base of how I design and edit; I think in frames before I think in cuts. Composition matters most to me. It's what connects a viewer to the picture, and it keeps them watching.