The Story Behind the Lens

I didn't take a straight path to wedding photography — and I think that's exactly why I'm good at it.

I grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, surrounded by creativity. My mom’s side of the family is musical, so music was my first love. Growing up, I played Alto Sax, which led me to study music production and sound design at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and for a long time, I thought that was the direction my life was heading. Something I’ve learned now is once a creative, always a creative. The medium might change, but art is art, so it’s not surprising I ended up in photography.

After Berklee, I spent 5 years at Apple — starting in Raleigh, then Boston, then ending at the Fifth Ave store in New York City — working as a creative. That experience gave me a strong foundation in customer service, which I still use today as a Wedding Photographer. How to connect with people quickly, how to teach complicated things simply, how to read a room and adapt on the fly. Those skills show up in every wedding I shoot today. From Apple, I moved into audio post-production for 4 years before landing at Squarespace in New York, where I worked as a team lead in customer service.

It was during my time at Squarespace that everything changed. My wife and I were starting our family, and we made the decision to have her stay home with our kids while I supported us. With that in mind, I looked into working a second job, but she was the one who told me I should start a business instead. Photography had always been something I loved but never took seriously — so I gave myself a year to practice and learn before taking paid Engagement and Wedding couples in 2014.

In 2018, around the same time I moved back to Raleigh, I started sharing what I'd learned on YouTube. Teaching has always been a part of who I am — it started at Apple, carried through Squarespace, and now it lives on my channel where over 260,000 photographers follow along. I've been fortunate to take that even further as a public speaker, presenting at conferences like WPPI and Imaging USA to rooms of 250+ photographers. Helping other creatives grow their businesses is one of the most fulfilling parts of what I do. And I still can’t believe it’s part of my job description!

But at the core, I'm still the same person who picked up a camera because his wife believed in him. A creative who happened to find his way to wedding photography through music, technology, and a willingness to bet on himself. My wife and I have been married for 13 years now and have 6 amazing children. I couldn’t be more blessed.

My approach to photographing your wedding comes from all of it. The creativity I developed studying music. The people skills I built at Apple. The problem-solving I sharpened at Squarespace. The confidence that comes from 12 years and 200+ weddings. I bring all of that to your day — along with an energy that my couples consistently say made their wedding better, not just their photos.

I believe your celebration is the most important part of your wedding day. Not the photos. Not the timeline. Not the perfectly posed portrait. I will always put you, your emotions, and your people first — and with over a decade of experience, I've learned that when I do that, the photos turn out more beautiful than anything I could have directed. (but don’t worry the photos will still be amazing 😉)

If that sounds like the kind of photographer you want at your wedding, I'd love to hear from you.

For the next five years, I balanced both worlds — Squarespace during the week, weddings on the weekends. Slowly, the photography side grew. I was booking more weddings, building a reputation, and realizing that this wasn't just a side hustle anymore. When the time was right, my family and I moved back home to Raleigh, and I went full-time as a wedding photographer and I haven't looked back.

Since then, I've photographed over 200 weddings across North Carolina and the United States. I've been recognized as one of Rangefinder's 30 Rising Stars, featured in Style Me Pretty, Essence, and Munaluchi Bridal, and I'm a proud Fujifilm X-Photographer. I'm also a Heart of NC Weddings vendor and a member of WIPA NC. Over my 12 years of being a wedding photographer, I love it just as much as I did when I started. When I show up to a wedding, I'm not thinking about it like a job. I'm treating it like someone I love is getting married, and I happen to have a camera. That's the energy I bring. I want to be in it with you — not hovering around the edges directing everything. The more I feel like a guest, the more the photos end up looking the way the day actually felt. And that's always been the goal.