Self Portrait - 2024
Authentic Photographs
A 19th-Century Process Rooted in Connection
A powerful portrait captures more than appearance. It reveals a person’s soul. I believe a photograph forms a visual link between the subject, artist, and viewer. My role is to translate that connection into an image, like the harmonies of Bach: layered, deliberate, and profoundly human.
What you’ll see (and feel) in these portraits:
A Sense of Being Truly Seen
Before I ever click the shutter, I take time to understand the person in front of the lens. The result is a portrait that feels honest, grounded, and deeply personal.A Feeling of Stillness and Presence
This process slows everything down. Using a large format camera means we hold space together—creating trust, calm, and a rare kind of focus that comes through in the final image.A Tangible Connection to Craft
These are not instant images. Each photograph is made by hand, from exposure to print, giving you something lasting—something you can feel in the details, and keep for a lifetime.
This process creates portraits that feel warm, timeless, and deeply human.
Take a moment to explore the short gallery below. These aren’t just photographs—they’re shared moments, made with care, of people I’ve come to know and respect.
Whether you're drawn to a one-on-one portrait session, or want to bring the beauty of 19th-century photography to your event—I’d love to connect.
Emma
Once a dedicated ballet dancer from Hawaii, Emma's path shifted after an injury ended her professional career. Now, she carries the grace of dance into new chapters with quiet strength and luminous presence.
Papa
Taken after the passing of his beloved wife, Mary Lou, my Papa gave me every ounce of resistance a grieving man could muster. However, in a rare moment, I caught something real. Proof that even in sorrow, light can break through when you least expect it.
Jeanette
Looking into her own reflection, she bares the weight of a life carved by choice, struggle, and quiet determination. From Beijing to San Francisco, her story continues to unfold—rooted in compassion, with a voice that is clear, steady, and just beginning to make its mark.
Steven
The act of quiet focus gave the film its clarity, and his gaze its intensity. In this long exposure, I saw a fellow photographer shaped by distance from faith, years of hard-won sobriety, and a longing for warmth that he continues to seek through his lens.
Jim & Kerry
Newly together when we made this portrait. Their first photo as a couple. What I saw through the ground glass was simple and rare: two people caught in the soft gravity of new love.
David & Finn
On a steep hill in Lafayette Park, a chance meeting brought a quiet moment into focus on one of my earliest glass plates. Holding still for a full second, David and his dog Finn, helped shape an image born from patience, light, and a rare moment of connection.
When you're ready, I'm here.
Whether you’re drawn to the process, the photographs, or the idea of being seen in a unique way. Feel free to reach out. Let’s begin the conversation.
Artist Statement
Working primarily with an 8×10 view camera, I engage with image-making as a meditative and physical act. One that resists automation and invites slowness. My art practice explores the intersection of time, materiality, and photographic tradition through the use of large format film and 19th-century dry plate processes.
My camera’s deliberate nature necessitates mindfulness from the hand-coated emulsions and contact printing processes. My prints are not merely images but artifacts. Each one a result of analog craftsmanship, shaped by chemistry, imperfection, and time itself.
Rooted in the ethos of wabi-sabi, I embrace the beauty of irregularity and the subtle evidence of human touch. Projects such as The 365 Challenge and 100 Portraits examine photography as both documentation and ritual, foregrounding process over immediacy.
Through this work, I aim to preserve and recontextualize historic photographic methods, while offering a contemplative counterpoint to the digital image—a practice that asks both maker and viewer to slow down, reflect, and remain present.