Introductions.

Who am I?

Curious by nature, trained sociologist, and photographer by trade, my fascination with capturing the world as it is has led me to take a step back from capturing other’s lives, and offer some of my own.

Photographer

As a young photographer, I learned on film and ‘point and shoot’ (Samsung D760) digital cameras, capturing social events, nature hikes, and most importantly, my cats. I began this foray as a fascination with the abilities of photography to capture still images with unlimited creative potential. As I have recognized through scanning my family’s 35 mm film archive, the immediate nature of digital photography fundamentally changed the way through which photos are taken. Can you imagine not being able to look at your photo immediately after shooting? Anyways, my fascination paved to a decade (and counting) of learning and honing my craft.

Sociologist

In my youth I took an interest in solving social issues, epitomized during my fascination with psychological ‘profiling’ on shows like “Criminal Minds”. As I began attending York University to work on developing these skills, I quickly learned that profiling was not a science, but a pseudo science with deterministic presuppositions that refused to solve the underlying causes to the social issues today. Taking an exploratory diversion, I added Sociology as a double major and learned of the wild complexities of the social world, and the patterns within. Soon after, rekindling an earlier appreciation for computer hacking, I began looking into cyber-crimes and white-collar crimes. In 2017, I took this a step further, moving to Colchester, England to study Sociology at the University of Essex. Here I refined my analytical and research skills and had many academic conversations with my peers, developing bonds with many of them to this day. If you’re interested in any of the other sociological interests I have, leave me an email and I’d be happy to comment back!

Two Sides of the Same Coin

To me, photography and the social sciences are two sides of the same coin. They both attempt to describe the world as it is, filtered through our lenses and ideals. Where I envision photography to capture the beauty of the world and it’s people, I envision the social sciences as a means to capture the meta data a photo cannot contain. If a photo can speak a thousand words, it is social science’s obligation to record them. Likewise, it is photography’s obligation to ensure that our words don’t alienate the subjects (read: us). I think this makes a good deal of logical sense but I don’t often see photography and the social sciences linked. Hopefully throughout this blog I’ll be able to offer some insights into these two separate yet interlinked worlds.

Other Interests

Ok, so I’m interested in a lot of other things but I’ll give you the quick rundown. I enjoy hiking, road cycling, mountain biking, bike-packing, science fiction, Garfield, gaming, photography (obviously…), cyber crime, sociology, Toyota (someone buy me a new Rav4) and everything Marvel. If you follow my posts, you’ll see how I introduce some of these interests along the way!

What sort of content will I share?

My plan for this blog is threefold, to share my experiences with others, to inspire a new generation of photographers unafraid to push their creative limits, and to share my own art with you in hopes that you will enjoy it, and perhaps share it with others.

Tutorials

Learning from others, both online and offline, I am building a larger repertoire of photographic abilities. It is my hope to be able to share these skills with you through helpful blogs, such as Astrophotography or Infrared photography tutorials. Though not meant to be exhaustive, these tutorials are intended to inspire photographers, new and old alike, to get out and enjoy new photographic endeavors!

Experiences

Anyone can agree not all our experiences (photographic or otherwise) are amazing. Dust on the sensor, rainy forecast, or mechanical failures (Rav4 I’m talking about you), this blog also is a place where I will share and review information that I think is important for you to know.

Galleries

I also want to use this site as a means to display and market my work. Because I don’t use ads and am not sponsored by any company, I need to sell my work in order to survive. So, take a look at my galleries and leave a comment telling me what you like, and purchase something if you like. If you work for a not-for-profit and want to use images for your organization, let me know and I’m happy to license watermarked images either for free or for a low cost.

What About You?

Rather than a one-way dialogue, I’d love to get too know my readers better as this blog gets going. Let me know in the comments what you think and I’ll be happy to get back to you!