Santa Cruz Wedding - Full Day Wedding Photography
Serving as sole photographer for a Santa Cruz wedding, this series spans candid emotion, formal portraiture, and documentary-style coverage across the full day, from intimate pre-ceremony moments to the signing of the marriage license. The work required balancing multiple photographic modes in real time: directing posed moments with warmth rather than stiffness, while staying ready to capture unscripted joy as it happened.
Attention to texture and detail – lace, florals, natural light through trees, skin tone in mixed lighting — was as important as capturing the emotional arc of the day itself. As the only photographer on site, every shot required full ownership of composition, lighting judgment, and pacing, with no room for a second shooter to cover gaps.
Role: Photographer
Scope: Full-day coverage - getting ready through reception
Skills demonstrated: Portrait direction, natural light management, emotional storytelling, solo project ownership under time pressure
Mariners Church - Worship Recording Session
Shot during a live worship recording session at Mariners Church in preparation for Easter, this series documents a performance of "Black Friday" through mood, motion, and restraint. I leaned into the low stage light and haze rather than fighting it. The goal was to capture the emotional weight of the piece: intimate, cinematic, and quietly reverent.
Composition prioritized presence over spectacle: close, candid framing on individual musicians mid-performance, capturing expression and gesture over posed moments. The blue wash and shadow aren't corrected for; they're part of the story, reflecting the tone of the song and the intention behind the session.
Role: Photographer
Context: Worship recording session, Mariners Church, Easter
Deliverables: Delivered a 40-image archive to the marketing team to use in campaigns and promotional material
Coastal Surf Series - Documentary Photography
An ongoing personal series documenting surf culture along the California coast, shot across multiple sessions and locations. Rather than posed action shots, the work leans into distance, scale, and quiet observation…a lone surfer against a cliffline, a dog trailing two kids down the sand, silhouettes waiting in the swell. The palette shifts with the weather: flat gray fog, cool blue calm, warm late-day light, letting the coastal environment set the mood as much as the subjects do.
A closer sequence of a single surfer catching and riding a wave shows a different register — tighter, faster, more kinetic — demonstrating range between slow observational work and responsive, in-the-moment shooting.
Role: Photographer (personal/ongoing series)
Skills demonstrated: Environmental/lifestyle photography, natural light across varied conditions, composition at scale, action sequence timing
