After twenty-four years of military service and multiple special operations deployments, I needed a new challenge—and some peace. I’m still not sure what led me to pick up a camera that first time, but I captured an image of a hawk taking off from a rock spire in Red Rock Open Space in Colorado Springs, CO. Looking at it now, it really isn’t very good—but it was the best one I had ever taken, and I was hooked. Over time, stalking the animals forced me to slow down, to accept that I cannot control all the variables I had tried to influence over two decades of war, and to learn to be still. After being home for a few years without deploying, photography helped me begin actually coming back. I decided to go all in.

 I started Untamed Aperture and began a six-month internship with internationally recognized and award-winning photographer Shannon Squires. In the beginning, I simply planned to learn some additional camera and editing skills and then continue doing nature photography. Watching how Shannon works with her models, however, opened my eyes to the possibilities of how I could use portraiture to create meaning in people’s lives. I watched her develop people in ways very similar to how I developed junior members during my military career. The wheels began turning, and I dove in deeper.

I started Shot Group Photography to focus on fine art portraiture, joined the Professional Photographers of America (PPA), earned my Certified Professional Photographer rating, and began working on my PPA Master of Photography degree—all to elevate my craft so I have the technical and artistic skills to create personalized and meaningful art for my clients.

Today, I create an elevating experience for the clients who walk into the studio. I thought I had found a new purpose, but I only found a new way to exercise my lifelong pursuit—I make meaning for people. When the time is right for a client, the session itself creates new meaning. Recently, a client in her 70s who had not worn a dress in 30 years left my session and drove directly to the store to buy a dress; she literally sees herself in a new light now. Through my teaching with Shannon (leveraging my 8+ years of college-level teaching at the U.S. Air Force Academy), I help translate the imaginative wonder in Shannon’s composited images into technical and analytical terms, helping to restore childlike creativity for people who have spent years in structured, left-brained careers. My work, both wildlife and portrait sessions, is used in mental health treatments with the Wounded Healer Project.

In Start with Why, Simon Sinek says that, “People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe.” It took some time for the clarity to come, but I believe that my purpose is to create meaning for people.

People are my purpose. I know that now. And if I stay true to that, the right clients will find me when their time is right.

Creativity. Authenticity. Memory.