I've spent most of my life making art in one way or another. I played bass in working bands from 1980-2011, attending Manhattan School of music along the way. By 2006 I started to photograph live music and write reviews for a number of magazines including OffBeat Magazine, Honest Tune Magazine and DC Music Review.
From 2011-2018 I was the house photographer for The Forbes Center for the Performing Arts at James Madison University, as well as photographing their School of Art, Design and Art History. By 2012 I also took on full time duties as the division photographer at Harrisonburg City Public Schools, getting to photograph a wide variety of subject matter such as the Fine Arts, STEM and Sports programs as well as candid photographs in the division's nine schools. I still hold this position and love every single day of it!
I've also spent as much time as possible in the outdoors throughout my life, and over the last several years started a journey of wildlife photography, linking together several passions. It is hard to beat watching the natural world wake up with a camera in you hand.
A Year In The Pit
In 2018 film maker and friend John Woody approached me backstage at the Lockn' Music Festival with an idea to make a documentary film. He enjoyed the way the photographers worked in the photo pit as well as our images, and thought it would make a good subject for a documentary. This was a sort of life altering meeting, as we wound up spending time together at 10+ music festivals and multiple concerts across the country over the next year, interviewing photographers, musicians, festival directors and festival media directors, gathering the content that would become our film "A Year In The Pit: A Journey into Music Photography". The film was premiered on December 11, 2021, to a sold out theater in Harrisonburg, VA. It has garnered awards in ten film festivals including the Paris Film Festival, Lift-off Global Network in London and winner of Best Feature Documentary at the World Film Carnival in Singapore! Below you can watch this journey into concert photography for free!