I don't know where it all exactly started, but when I was child I used to poke the eyes out of all our family photos until my mom got upset. Years later, I began taking art classes in junior college; painting, life drawing & sculpture. At the time, I encouraged my girlfriend to enroll in a photo class but I think it was really I that wanted to participate. So I sat in on the class and taught myself how to print B&W images in the darkroom. From that point on, I transferred to Art Center College of Design and began taking more intense classes at night for illustration.
    After a year of a more focused art program, I realized I wanted to do something else. I tried photography again. I didn't really know for sure but it was imperative that I chose something for my career as my parents were getting frustrated with my lack of direction. So I lied and told them that I was sure I wanted to pursue it as a profession. It was the only thing I could think of doing and I trusted my instincts. Photography was the only medium that I felt was challenging and that I wanted to explore more because I was truly afraid of it.
    I don't know what I would do without photography. It’s a visual language that I communicate through. It's the only language that I truly understand. You can clearly see the thought process of the person taking the picture. You can feel his/ her emotions and celebrate his/ her genius in the image.
    After college I worked with numerous top photographers on very impressionable shoots that shaped and changed the way I thought. I don't think the names need to be mentioned, its so cliché.
    In 2001, I was awarded Surface Magazine's Avant Guardian. It was a big moment for me because at the time the magazine was really beginning to launch people’s careers. I was so nervous because I actually didn't know exactly what I was going to do for the shoot. All I remember was that I wanted to make powerful images and that I had a weird obsession with streetwalkers in Hollywood. I flew in the most beautiful girl, Elise Crombez and probably took the most honest images of my entire career. They have this rawness about them that you cannot look past. They are very special to me.
    I don't remember who was the first person I ever took a picture of. The only thing I can remember was always taking pictures in my head, - like a visual diary.
    I remember the first time I saw a girl and how it made me feel. I remember the good and really bad moments that I experienced as a child as vividly as yesterday. It's a weird gift to have, but I also wouldn't be able to make images the way I do without those experiences. So it is my blessing.

I think 'powerful' is the most important, because when I'm over being upset and I have moved past feeling vulnerable, I personally feel powerful. I tend to project my feelings onto the model. It just naturally happens, it's what moves me emotionally and it’s how I know when I've got 'my' picture. ?I love the seduction and heartbreak in my photographs. When you combine all of those feelings, I think it makes for something interesting to look at. ?I don't make pictures because I want people to look at them and say "wow" at first glance. I don't even make pictures for anyone but myself, really. It's selfish I know, but you have to be this way if you want to be happy with the images you are creating.

So many elements come into the equation when shooting fashion pictures, but I always go back to the model as being the most important factor for making an amazing picture. I have to be totally in love with her beauty and inspired to photograph her. If I am, everything else isn’t that important. I can always shoot her without clothes, hair or make up. It’s probably the most honest picture you can take.
    Everything else is just the advertiser manipulating a picture to help sell merchandise and make it publishable. I completely understand that some believe its not really a 'fashion picture' without the 'fashion', but is it really? I think that a picture stands on it's own and can be whatever you want it to be. A beautiful girl photographed in an interesting way is both fashionable and sustainable over time. You never can tell though because 'Time' is the biggest critic of them all.

That's easy, surfing. Maybe not competitive surfing so much, but more like how my friends live their lives. They just surf, travel, take pictures and create whatever it is they feel. It’s so instinctual and honest.

There are a few. I would say both of my parents are huge influences on me and I'm definitely a huge fan of them. My father was a professional baseball player who played for the Pittsburg Pirates in the late 60's. My mother is the beautiful blonde, the girl next door. She's the Beauty & the Brains. My Dad is the muscle, so it's not a bad fit if you look at it like that!
    Photographically, I would have to say David Sims had the biggest influence on me. I'm talking about David Sims at a time when he was creating images & not too many people even knew who he was or much about him. At that time, he had just begun his professional career & I had begun studying photography. For David, his inspiration was Avedon. For me it is David and for someone else - well, it could be me! That would be rad!
    Looking at it from a completely different direction, most people look to heroes as people who have come before them. I look to my friends who are younger; they give so much back to me. It's amazing how that works but AK & TLP are huge inspirations to me. They both inspire me to be best person I can be; they're so wise beyond their years.

Shoot a lot of pictures, surf and enjoy every moment with my family and close friends. I definitely want to evolve and to find those moments where everything seamlessly connects. I love that.

Brigitte Bardot.

Well, if I had a place that was the best to shoot, I probably wouldn't be blurting it out loud, but the truth is I very much love everything about NY. It's so incredible, it actually changes over night. It’s forever changing and there’s always something new to inspire me.

There's so many I would love to do. I've always wanted to work on something that would push the boundaries of my talent.
   Since the campaigns are always changing photographers from one to the next, my pick would be Marc Jacobs. Juergen has been doing Marc Jacobs for over a decade, so I would love to be the person to create something completely new for it.
   It would be a difficult task because there are so many expectations, not only from the creatives but also from the consumers. You have to consider what 14-year-old girls are going to say. That is the demographic now, 14 year old girls buying luxury goods. There are a lot of people to please with a photograph; it's kind of scary.

Blondes, Ice Cream & Surfing.

Marc Jacobs

 

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