I’ve always been interested in photography. There is something beautiful in capturing the moment. The right light. The right moment.

For some people, it comes easy to do. For some, not so much. For me, it was somewhere in the middle, but beauty is everywhere around us.I chose to stay in Vermont right out of college. Little did I know that God had plans for me and a journey I could never have imagined. I had been working as a Police Officer and Sheriff’s Deputy when I was semi-coerced into applying for the Vermont Department of Corrections. Semi-coerced? Yes, semi-coerced. The officers at the local prison across the street from me had been hounding me like a water droplet on a stone for months. God then blessed me with a daughter and I knew I needed better medical benefits. I applied a few days after finding out she would be arriving in 7 months. Once the prison that I was working at was scheduled to be decommissioned, I was transferred temporarily to the Field Supervision unit of a Probation & Parole office. How does any of this relate to my photography journey? You don’t go from reading affidavits on how someone committed a heinous crime to driving the countryside during a Vermont Fall/Winter without pulling over and admiring God’s work.

Pictures that you see in magazines/online about a Vermont foliage do not do it justice. Driving around back country roads, enveloped by the most vibrant colors you could imagine because the foliage covers the entire road. Sun peaking through the leaves. No one around for miles. Or going out during winter and seeing the frozen lake/pond peak out through the trees. Snow covered pines, mountains/hills in the background, sun setting and everything glowing orange/pink/purple. You are either dead, blind or dumb if you are not in awe seeing that. I could not pass these moments up anymore so I started to carry my Olympus OM everywhere I went while working.

Fast forward 20+ years and now I find myself in Katy/Houston having lost the camera, the thousands of pictures I took, and most importantly, my way. I had been working for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice but found that although I loved my job, I had sacrificed my first family. Now I had a new family. My youngest daughter was 2 years old and I was not about to make the same mistake again. Photography had become dormant years ago, but it was now starting to stir back to life. I had always loved aviation and wondered what it would be like to combine both aviation and photography. I was oblivious to drone photography, but once I learned about it, I was hooked. The passion came rushing back. It was a few years later that I was driving back home with my then 5-year-old, when we passed the church next to our subdivision. She pointed out the children’s wing and asked what they did there. When I explained to her that that is where children went to Sunday School, she asked if she could go. “Absolutely, you can”, I told her without hesitation. that same Sunday we both began to attend church together. Little did I know how much I needed Him in my life. A few months later we both found ourselves in the baptismal. I was baptized first, then I baptized her.

Prior to all of this, I may have been able to “see” some of the beauty around me. I actually struggled most of the time. Since then, I see things totally different. Light, shadows, and those “moments” are all around. Now I was seeing them with new eyes.

Life is not smooth, and neither is photography. There are many out there that will buy a camera, start snapping away at everything and call themselves a photographer. I was like that once as well. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. That is where trial and error comes in. Photographers that had worked/retired from Reuters, European Press Agency, and Associated Press were being introduced into my life. Friendships were developed and nurtured. Why me? These guys have, and currently are, photographing major world events, major league sports and their championships, Presidential events and all these other things and they are even sharing their camera presets for different events with me. Again, why ME? I’m not all that and a bag of chips. I’m not even the leftover grease on the inside of the bag. But God has a plan. I have no clue what it is, but He has one. He always does.

These great friends taught me most of what I didn’t know I didn’t know. Biggest lessons I learned were to listen when you are told to point and shoot and then look. I didn’t know what that meant until I started doing it. Anyone can pose anything and anyone. Capturing the emotion of the moment is a totally different thing.

Now as for social media, that is one area that I do struggle in. I know how much people rely on it and yes, I need to do more of it. But if I have to chose between the relationship we build vs posting consistently, you will always come first.

As I mentioned, anyone can pose anything and anyone. Yes, some do it better than others and yes, it is a skill that takes time to master. For me, it’s about the emotional moment. I’ll pose you. I’ll get the lighting. I’ll get the angle. But I will also be taking pictures when you don’t even realize it’s happening.

The look of a daughter towards her single dad as he was coming back after he went on a 20-minute search for a ponytail holder during her graduation portrait shoot is not something you can pose. The pride of an uncle who is raising his autistic nephews, as one of them, who was elected to the Homecoming Court cheers on the Homecoming King is not something you can pose. The way a husband holds his wife of 60 years as she leans into him is not something you can pose. The way a wife of 40 years leans into her husband as they take their “first dance” during their vow renewal for the wedding they never had the chance to have is not something you can pose.

Photography styles, just like food, comes in many variations. Some cuts of meat are better grilled than broiled. Same is true in photography. Some images are better in color. Some are better in black & white. The important thing is to understand what you are looking for. What are you trying to focus on? The scenery? Color all the way (in most cases). Emotion? Black & white is the way to go. Strip all color from an image and what you are left with is the pure emotion that is present. No distractions. Light, shadow, and emotion.

I know that God has done His work through me when you look at your images and you don’t realize you are holding your breath. If that doesn’t happen, then it’s because I wasn’t listening to Him.

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