About
I've never met anyone who photographs badly.
I’ve met plenty of people who are certain they do. Usually they’ve just never been given enough time, decent light, or a reason to stop bracing for it.
The best photo of you is usually the one taken after you stopped trying.
"I love every picture! I created canvases, out of these pictures, for my home."
- K. Brower
01
How it started
After nine years of pointing a camera at people, here’s the pattern I’d bet money on. Whoever tells me in the first five minutes that they’re not photogenic is the one who ends up with the best frames of the session. Not because I’m doing anything clever. Because somewhere around minute twenty they forget to perform, and their actual face shows up.
02
How sessions work
Before
We make a plan
What I bring to a session besides a camera is an unreasonable amount of planning. I’ve spent my working life making complicated things happen on schedule, and that turns out to be most of what a good portrait session actually is. By the time we meet, the location is chosen, the hour is picked for the light, and everyone already knows what they’re wearing. Nobody is problem-solving in a field at six o’clock with a toddler coming apart at the seams.
During
About 45 unhurried minutes
Most family portrait sessions involve about 45 minutes of actual photography time. I have found that this is about the extent of most people’s interest in the process, and photos taken after an hour are generally more stiff and guarded than the natural expressions captured in that first 45 minutes. While shooting, I will help guide details like what to do with your hands, where to look, and details that make up the frame. We remove the uncomfortable guesswork.
03
On a personal level
I live in Apex with my wife, Heather, our blended family of six kids most of whom are grown and living their best lives on their own now, and our little dog, Penny. Apex and Wake County is also where most of my favorite light is.
Most weekends while not taking photographs I’m on a golf course somewhere around the Triangle, playing many strokes more than I’d like to admit. I am also very active in the mens charity organization 100 Men Who Give a Damn focused on collective giving to Triangle charities to help keep Wake County the amazing place it is to call home.
If you’ve been putting this off because you hate having your picture taken, you’re exactly the person I’d like to hear from.
