As 2010 draws to a close I feel so grateful that no other sentiment can really supersede.  I’ve once again managed to grow my business, and better understand myself and my place in this world, all with the simple guiding principles of following my passion and trusting my heart. This passion that seems so all-encompassing that I may not have found love had it not been someone with whom I could share it.  This passion that keeps me up writing about it at 2am after a 12-hour workday while still sparking excitement and a grin on my face.  This passion that IS, and hopefully will always BE.

This year has brought a stronger focus on project work to my photographic life – a focus I plan to multiply in 2011.  My projects and essays this year have ranged from documenting the angry uprising of the Tea Party for TIME Magazine and Stern Magazine to lazily drifting down the Pacific Northwest Coastline shooting instant analog film alongside my lady love with no driving force aside from emotion and wanderlust.  I’ve explored theme parks, roadside attractions and other altered theatrical realities for my ever-expanding project, The Fourth Wall.  I’ve meandered through the Irish countryside in search of imagery that felt more like a lullaby than a photograph, traced the US trucking routes in my ongoing study on the lure of the road, and attempted to better understand Small Town America as part of a new LUCEO group project.  Nearly all of these, save the Irish escapades, will be continued in the coming year along with a new project for which I’m bubbling with excitement.  Stay tuned to find out.

This year also marked my first foray into the gallery world.  I kicked off the year with the LUCEO joint show with photo collective MJR at the 25CPW gallery in NYC which ended up an exciting and beautiful collaboration with a talented group of photographers.  My work was also exhibited at the Houston Center for Photography and the Aperture Gallery in NYC.  I’m excited to continue down this path in 2011 with a LUCEO group exhibition opening in NYC at 25CPW on January 19, followed quickly by a joint show with LUCEO’s Kendrick Brinson at the Jennifer Schwartz Gallery in Atlanta opening on January 29 – each featuring work from my Fourth Wall project which was most recently a finalist for the Magnum Expression Award.

My assignment work has taught me so much this year, but nothing more so than the fact that I love meeting and spending time with people whom I would have no reason to ever interact with were it not for this passion for shooting photographs.  No matter what our differences may be, I have something to learn from all of them, and that universal human connection always has the chance to overcome any barrier of class, culture or ideology.  As I thumb through all my subjects of the year and all they taught me, a special thanks goes out to songwriter Tom Douglas who I photographed in Nashville for The Wall Street Journal.  Tom opened up his soul in front of me and allowed me to witness raw creation in a way that nearly brought me to tears, and for that inspiration I’m indebted (He’s the classy Ralph Lauren looking guy with his cowboy boots kicked up on the table below).  

This year assignments and personal work took me to New York, NY, Asheville, NC, Spring Hill, FL, Tampa, FL, Birmingham, AL, Nashville, TN, Las Vegas, NV, Searchlight, NV, Phoenix, AZ, Huntsville, AL, Charleston, SC, Wichita, KS, Lebanon, KS, Brant Lake, NY, Orlando, FL, Washington D.C., All Over The Damn Place in Georgia, Austin, TX, Raleigh, NC, Ireland (all over the Western countryside), The entire Coastline of Washington, Oregon, and a good bit of California, Charlotte, NC, Dillon, SC, New Orleans, LA, Tangier Island, VA, and a good bit of these spots more than once with a whole lot more en route.  The coming months promise more of the same which makes me smile and thank my lucky stars that I’m a vagabond at heart, and that I have a grade A pet sitter at home (aside: for the record, that would be my first home that we bought this year and I share with the love of my life and our three beautiful furry children – nothing quite like travel except perhaps the thought of home awaiting us from afar).

My wonderful clients who made this all possible and those who featured my work in 2010 have included TIME Magazine, The New York Times, Bloomberg News, Atlanta Magazine, Stern Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, US News & World Report, Fraction J Magazine, PDN, The New York Times LENS Blog, Community Bank & Trust, AARP Bulletin, Newsweek Japan, Medical College of Georgia, University of Georgia Terry College of Business, Event Marketer Magazine, and Professional Remodeler Magazine among a few others I’ve undoubtedly missed.  My deepest gratitude to all of you for not only trusting me with your content, but for funding the personal work that feeds my soul.  

Happy Holidays and all the best to all of you in 2011.

As 2010 draws to a close I feel so grateful that no other sentiment can really supersede.  I've once again managed to grow my business, and better understand myself and my place in this world, all with the simple guiding principles of following my passion and trusting my heart. This passion that seems so ...