A Brief Welcome, Reflection, and Look Ahead

Now that we’re pretty well into the new year, with all the 2023 adventures officially in the rearview (and by that I mostly mean all photos are edited and published), I thought this would be an appropriate time to hammer the keyboard on this site for the first time. One of my intentions in 2023 was simply to get organized and find a home for my favorite images somewhere other than social media. Having pursued this hobby for over a decade now, without any real plan for it, I wanted to formalize things just a little bit. Improve my workflows, scrub my very cluttered library, and publish a better way to view - and manage - my galleries. Here we are. So, welcome! Thanks for visiting.

When I purchased my first camera however long ago that was, a Nikon D3100, my goal was simply to share a glimpse of what interested me, and all the experiences and memories I chose to hold onto. I feel fortunate to have grown up in New England, now living in the White Mountains, a beautiful landscape and aesthetic that has served as inspiration for many. For me, it’s home. Whenever anyone asks how and why I first picked up a camera it’s a pretty easy answer. How could you not want to capture these mountains, lakes, and rivers? As an avid hiker, documenting these places and moments that have offered so much adventure, but also tranquility and comfort, seemed pretty obvious. When you’ve been exploring them as long as you’ve been able to walk you build up a relationship with these forests. You familiarize with how the scenes shift and change across seasons - and we’re certainly lucky to get all four seasons in their full force each year. Naturally, the opportunity and motivation to photograph this dynamic place is endless. That’s where the original curiosity came from.

Fast forward a handful of years, and a handful of cameras, and that curiosity turned into passion. Granted, I still don’t know if my passion is stronger for photography itself, or the places I’m photographing. I tend to think it’s the latter. And that feels like a healthy thing when I consider my long-term outlook in photography. The pursuit of new experiences has pushed my photography further as the years have gone on. I’m fascinated by different landscapes, and the culture and communities around them. When I think back on 2023, that was the overall theme of the year. My camera accompanied me to Ireland, Montana and Glacier National Park, Utah and Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks, Detroit, a city I love dearly, Cuyahoga Valley, numerous hikes in the Whites, and of course, a few concerts sprinkled in between. It truly has become a facet of most of what I do, and most of where I go. Photography has not only become a hobby of mine, it’s also enhanced many of my other personal pursuits. The process isn’t always the same - I brought nothing but a 24-120 f4 to Ireland, compared to my full arsenal that flew to Glacier National Park - but that’s the great thing about this craft. It can be as intense, or as casual, as you feel the situation calls for. And aside from a few bigger trips, it had been a pretty casual endeavor during the year.

One question I consider from time to time, more recently at least, is what actually is my relationship to photography? Am I a hobbyist? Well, I’d like to think I’ve invested enough time to take it a little more seriously than that term implies. So am I a professional? I mean, technically no. I’ve never made a dime off of the craft, and currently don’t have plans to. Are these photos any good, honestly speaking? The answer that I keep landing on is, well, not an answer. I don’t care. I love photography. I love the process of exploring and capturing these moments in time - some to share, some not. I love learning new skills and concepts that change (not necessarily improve) how I’m capturing these moments, and I love experimenting with new ideas I’ve picked up from others. I’ve grown to understand that even the most routine events can present subtle details worth capturing. What may be mundane or familiar to one, may be new and exotic to another, something I try to consider as I work through each day. And that, ultimately, is all I want my relationship with photography to be - continuous and limitless pursuit of a craft that brings my joy, and inspires creativity, adventure, and perspective along the way.

As I look at the rest of 2024 ahead, a calendar that is substantially more open than the previous handful of years have been, I want to dedicate more time to going out strictly for the purpose of taking photographs. There have been plenty of adventures where the camera was simply an extension of myself. I’d chuck it into a hiking bag with a couple of lenses and would snap away at whatever scene I happened across, no further planning needed than that. In fairness, I think that’s an appropriate approach most of the time. Just get out there, experience as much as you can and be as present as you can, and don’t overthink how much time you’re devoting to “being a photographer” in those moments. That mentality can often serve as a distraction from the other things you should be getting out of a trip or experience. However, that also can’t be the only way you use a camera. There’s the other approach, when you study the light in a certain area, pore over maps, watch the weather, track the moon and sun, and set up shop somewhere for the purpose of capturing a memorable scene, one that evokes an intended emotion. That’s what I want to get out of 2024. I don’t want my cameras sitting on my shelf when they aren’t packed for a flight or long road trip. Through photography, let’s seek out the adventure and emotion in this landscape and continue to build that relationship.

For now however, to wrap up the year that was, here are a dozen of my favorite moments from 2023…