06/28/2026
This past week I updated my personal portfolio and was transported back to dozens of early mornings and sunsets capturing one thing I love, surf. I first picked up a camera while still in the Marine Corps about 7 years ago and started making pictures for fun. I’d shoot in the evenings and on the weekends with no real understanding of what I was doing or of the surf I was capturing. I didn’t have a mentor or a teacher and learned the long and hard way through trial or error. I didn’t expect to ever get paid for what I did and don’t think I got paid for any of these images here, but nonetheless spent hundreds of hours standing on the beach, swimming in the ocean, and many more behind a computer editing. Even since these images, I feel like my understanding of photography and storytelling has continued to progress, but nonetheless these photos are special to me and take me back to that very moment.
It’s interesting, I feel like somewhere in my subconscious I can remember almost every photo that I’ve marked as a select. Even when updating my website or compiling this post, I can search for the exact moment in my archives by the general date and location. This is one of the reasons why I love photography. Not only does it make me more present in the moment, but it allows me to capture that moment and relive it time and time again.
