Dispatches from the Deep South

On a narrow road jutting off a rural highway in Central Louisiana is a massive detention center, tucked behind towering pine trees in aptly named Pineville, Louisiana. Rising nearly as high are rows and rows of barbed wire fences with watchtowers placed every few hundred feet. Besides the flags flapping in the wind, the only […]

Photos of the Year 2018

Pretty sure 2018 couldn’t have been more different than 2017. I went from freelance photographer to staff photographer. And instead of shooting photos all over the world, I spent 2018 shooting photos (mostly) within the confines of a few acres of campus. While the traveling was a great experience with some unforgettable stories, I’ve thoroughly […]

Best Photos of 2017

2017 was a year on the move. My camera took me ~60,000 air miles around the world where I got to see and photograph some incredible people and places. But the 1,000 or so miles from Texas back to the Midwest and to my new home in Chicago were the most exciting. Here’s a little collection […]

Oh, The Places You’ll Go

With this being my 10 year “anniversary” of my first visit to Cuba I felt strangely stuck between two time periods as well. In 2007 I was a 17-year-old who knew relatively little about photography (or Cuba) other than that I thought it was cool. To return as a 27-year-old getting paid to photograph in Cuba and teach 17-year-olds about photography felt surreal and inspiring at the same time. It sort of felt like living out a real life version of a favorite childhood book of mine, Oh, The Places You’ll Go.

A Man, a plan, a (ear) canal, India

On my third day in Delhi an odd but harmless man “professionally” cleaned my ears despite my best protests.

“Your ears are very dirty, sir,” he began. “Let me have a quick look.” I didn’t doubt his assessment, though in my partial shock from his very specific and direct aural interests I didn’t take him very seriously. Within a split-second he placed a tuft of cotton on a metal q-tip and plunged it into my ear canal.

Morocco Revisited

For a second time I was fortunate to work with Rustic Pathways’ Advanced Photo Workshop in Morocco, this time teaching a group of 32 high school students from Hong Kong International School. It was also great reuniting with my Moroccan friends from last summer to lead the trip and get the opportunity to work and teach […]

A Changing Cuba

Cuba—which in most people’s minds is Havana—feels defined by its dilapidated chic of crumbling mansions, vintage cars and fading grandeur. Much has been written over the future of the island now that American tourism is surging, which increased 450% this past year. On one hand I find the idea that American tourism will somehow change the country to be arrogant if not naive. After all, Cuba welcomes 3.5 million tourists a year and Americans only make up a fraction of this. If tourism “changed” Cuba it’s happened well before hoards of Americans arrived.

Morocco: A Visual Feast

Casablanca’s humid ocean breeze mixes sounds of motorbikes, car horns and call to prayer that provides a suitable soundtrack for reflection.

For the past month I’ve been working as the Photo Instructor for Rustic Pathways’ Advanced Photography Workshop in Morocco. I taught photography to a small handful of incredibly thoughtful and motivated high school students with the help of a crew of indispensable Moroccans who guided us around their beautiful country. The trip itself was a fast-paced tour that had us cruising across a large portion of the country to see many of Morocco’s famous sights.