I am exceptionally good at eating large amounts of food. My happy place is exploring the Oregon Coast with two college kids and a ferocious eight year old. I’m teaching myself latte-art, I like podcasts with comedians, and finding new excuses to travel the world with my best friend.
Since becoming a wedding photographer 15 years ago, I’ll often stumble across a photo I made somewhere on the internets. Sometimes it’s celebrating an anniversary, reliving a funny moment, honoring a mother on Mother’s Day, or remembering a family member that has passed away. It’s a wild balance of pressure and joy that I approach with all seriousness and hilarity.
To me, photography is more than just clicking a camera button, it's creating a personal experience. The best stories are told by a photographer you can trust to not only capture how you feel, but to make you laugh, loosen up, and be present in the moment. I’m passionate about what I do, and would love to tell your story.
FAQs
How did you get started?
After I FINALLY bought a DSLR camera, photography became an immediate obsession. I started a 365 project shortly after, taking at least 1 photo a day, every day of the year. A few family shoots and a friends wedding made it clear this is what I loved to do. Now I do this full-time for a living, supporting my family. And I love being a photographer.
There are 1.5 million photographers in the Portland, Oregon area alone. Why should we choose you?
I believe your stats are correct. However, out of that 1.5 million, only a handful make their living doing wedding photography, and out of that handful, there are going to be even fewer that you connect with personally. My highest recommendation when choosing a wedding photographer is to hire 1. someone you trust and 2. someone whose work you LOVE. If you feel like you’d connect with me, let’s meet up!
Do you work alone?
If you don’t count my seven foot tall Wookie co-pilot, I typically work “Solo.” I do my best to blend into your celebration, much like the Homer Simpson meme disappearing into the bushes. The less intimidating the photographer, the more guests are free to be themselves! For weddings above 250 guests or multiple traditions happening at the same time, I recommend considering adding a second photographer since my current working clone is still glitchy. An extra perspective is nice to have when there are a lot of guests, and I only personally hire non-clone photographers who are professionals themselves.
Where are your favorite places to shoot?
I prefer to shoot in good light. If good light is in a field, a parking lot, a basement, or a marina, I’ll totally do it. The pictures are about you and being unique, so I try to avoid more populated destinations.
What’s in your gear bag?
Gear. I use Fujifilm cameras (big and little) and shoot with prime lenses (big and little). I have many backup cameras, and their cameras have cameras. If lighting is going to be either tricky or dramatic, I bring my lighting stands, flashes, and all that nonsense so that I can balance on a bridge with incoming traffic with a ferris wheel in the background, if the situation calls for it.
What kind of photo schedule do you recommend for portraits on the wedding day?
Since it’s YOUR wedding, it really depends on YOUR vision of the day. I highly recommend scheduling about one and a half hours total for all the people portraits (also including pets, zoo animals, or genetically modified dinosaurs). I’m very efficient with family pictures so give around twenty minutes for those groups of important people you’d like photos with. Thirty minutes for the wedding party and about forty five minutes for pictures of the two of you snugglin’ up. Again, it really depends on what you’d like your wedding to be, so picture time may be broken up into lil’ bits. Even if we have the majority of portraits done beforehand, if there is a beautiful evening happening, I'm gonna put a bag over your heads and steal you away for a few extra photos. You're welcome.
Do you offer discounts?
Since my business is based around photographing only a select number of weddings a year and because I want to be fair to all my clients, I don't currently offer discounts for wedding coverage.
What’s with using film sometimes?
Film is gorgeous, unique, and can never be quite replicated by digital cameras (I’m talkin’ to you, Instagram!). Back in the old days, we didn’t have ‘puters distractin’ us from getting to school in the snow uphill both ways so we had to burn pictures into parchment using light and chemicals. I love the look of the good stuff, so I want to share it with you if that’s something you like too.
Why do you eat so much?
It is a well-known fact that cows have 4 stomach compartments. A rare disease also occurs in some humans called psychoquadristomatitis in which an individual believes they possess four stomach compartments and therefore eats to compensate for their empty digestive system. Societal effects include successful burrito establishments, distrust of soup, and cranky behavior in between meal times. I have this.
