a nerd for the rocks with a passion for fossilizing the memories

a geologist by trade

a photographer by heart

Everyone's photography journey is unique - mine sparked in the summer of 2016. I was in the midst of a month long field class in the desert southwest for my Geology program. We were visiting some of the most amazing places I have ever witnessed with my own two eyes (being from Pennsylvania, my family was more of the Myrtle Beach vacation type and not the mountains). Now, during that month, I quickly realized that my iPhone 6 could not accurately capture the beauty that was around me. That Christmas I received my first DSLR camera. From there, I was hooked. Over the next few years while living in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, I really dove into learning the ins and outs of landscape photography. Nature was clearly my safe haven (kind of why you want to study Geology in the first place) so this was the perfect blend. So after playing around with that for a few years, my soon to be wife and I moved back to Pennsylvania where I would be blessed with the career shift of a lifetime.

We moved to Pittsburgh (we were both from about an hour south of the Burgh so we wanted to see what the big city life was like) in the summer of 2020. I transferred to my Environmental Consulting company's Pittsburgh branch but was ultimately ready to make a major career shift. That's when I found Geology Rocks! and Minerals, a rock shop in the heart of the city that needed a Photographer and Social Media Director. What. I can take pictures of rocks for a living? Pinch me. We have shops in Pittsburgh and Chicago so essentially I would take our material out and about and photograph them all around the cities and on any trips I would take. The definition of my dream job (follow @geologyrockspittsburgh on IG, I'll still be doing this job until I die). Now, where does people photography come into play?

As I grew my skills as a landscape photographer, my wife was the subject to my MANY photographic explorations. She was my Guiana pig. As the skills, knowledge, and passion grew, the more I wanted to begin capturing moments to keep and remember forever - not just the gorgeous landscapes, but the people visiting them too. In the winter going into 2022, I was approached to shoot my first wedding. Woah. Now that is something I truthfully never thought about. Nervously, I accepted. Now, it's game time. I found a photographer's retreat in North Carolina where I met my future photographic idol. I second shot my first wedding for him and immediately knew, "I can do this". I second-shot a few more weddings before my (Hillary and Joe's, but mine as well) big day. It was a blast. I knew I wanted to do more. The caveat however, we were moving to Colorado that following summer. Woah.