I'm a professional wedding photographer on Northwest Florida's beautiful Emerald Coast commissioned to create fine art documentary work admired for its quality and beauty.

I live near Rosemary Beach; so if random acts of the universe intervened, I could easily hike to any of the wedding locations around Scenic 30A, including Alys Beach, Watercolor, Seaside, Carillon, Shark's Tooth at Wild Heron--in addition to Destin, Sandestin, Edgewater, Hilton, Emerald Grande, and Kelly Plantation.

Common Questions

Q: What are your rates for wedding photography?

Full-day weddings are $2995 and include shoot, files, and online gallery.

Gotta pay the man, so Florida sales tax (6.5%) will apply.

Send me a message to check availabilty and book your date.

Q: What is your style of wedding photography?

In one word: documentary. I tell the story of your wedding with light, composition, and moments, including some dazzling creative portraits for good measure. Yes, I capture details but place priority on the human connections, which will have lasting importance in future years.

What qualifies me to do that? I'm an alumnus of the Foundation Workshop, the most rigorous training ground for documentary wedding photographers; beyond that, I'm a life-long, self-educated disciple of photography and continue learning daily to further master and polish my craft.

I'm also an international award-winning photographer, if you put stock in that kind of thing. Here's the important point: I know what I'm doing.

I have a humanistic bent with a degree in English Literature.

I'm completely reliable and professional, having served with distinction in the Navy and Marine Corps as an FMF Hospital Corpsman. I shot a glamorous 14-hour Rosemary Beach wedding while suffering food poisoning; the happy bride and groom never knew and were thrilled with the results.

I'll spare you my list of favorite authors, photographers, and Italian Renaissance painters. Ask me, if you're interested.

Q. How many images do you typically deliver for a wedding?

I work with intention. So if your priority is sheer number, I'm not your guy. It's important to note that I emphasize quality over quantity in both my shooting and editing decisions in order provide strong, creative, and compelling coverage of your event. The number of images depends, of course, on the length and nature of the wedding; but the range typically averages anywhere from 50 to 150 photos per hour of shooting.

Q: Do you shoot same sex weddings?

I photograph people in love. Gender makes no difference.

Q: What equipment do you use?

The real key to good photography is not equipment but knowledge, skill, and experience. Anyone can take atrocious photos with a $20,000 camera. We won't even get into the crimes against off-camera lighting.

Having said that, I spare no expense to embark on each mission employing the best, most reliable, state-of-the-art tools for the job.

I use the Nikon professional SLR system for digital capture (I love shooting with my Nikon D4 cameras, D800 camera, Nikkor lenses, and Nikon Speedlights) and process using Apple Mac Pro workstation and 30" Cinema Display monitor in an office with medium gray walls lit with natural ambient and Solux lamp with industry standard bulb rated at 5000 Kelvin to avoid introducing any color bias to the images. From capture to processing to lab print, I work to maintain a completely color-managed workflow that ensures quality, accuracy, and fidelity.

nikon D4

nikon D4

mac pro

Q: Can I buy an album?

Sure!

There's really no substitute for real photographs made into a book with a quality binding. I love albums because images on real photographic paper look great, and the accessible book form means you'll view them more often.

Any albums that I sell are chosen to last a lifetime. I cannot in good conscience sell anything less than top-quality albums. And those, frankly, are pricey. But if you really value a good album, it's a great investment.

Leather Craftsman

Digital files

DVD

Full-day wedding coverage includes digital files on master DVD or Flash Drive (a sleek and sexy branded unit) are high-resolution and include rights for unlimited personal use and printing. The online gallery enables remote viewing of images and secure online ordering of prints.

Q: Do you have liability insurance?

Yes. I carry $1 million in liability insurance required by certain venues.

Q: Do you have backup equipment?

In my hooligan Boy Scout troup, we smoked cigars and lit campires with gasoline. But I did learn to be prepared. I have backups for everything: cameras, lenses, flashes, radio transceivers, batteries, image cards, hard drives, computers, and so on.

Q. Can I purchase prints or digital files?

Yes. Clients and their families may order high-quality photographic prints from the online gallery. Your credit card order is secure and encrypted with SSL technology.

Q. When I purchase digital files, what rights do I have?

Here's the short primer on U.S. Copyright: the photographer (creator) automatically holds all copyrights to the work. However, if you purchase the digital files, I grant you unlimited personal use of your images. There is no additional fee for these rights. The only thing you really can't do is sell them or allow them to be published or displayed in a commercial venue without my permission. Only one in 1000 clients want to do that, anyway. But if you do, just ask; and we'll work something out. Easy.

Q: For wedding events, do you take formal portraits as well as candids?

Yes. I'm happy to rock out formal portraits for you in any combintation you wish--that means bride and groom, wedding party, and so on.

Everyone attending your wedding is important to me. So in addition to formal portraits, I take every opportunity to take quick, informal photos of all the friends and family to provide a record of your wonderful guests.

 

Not-So-Common Questions

Q: How do you approach life?

With reason, compassion, and humor--and the recognition that life is short and beautiful.

Q: What are your hobbies?

Food, motorcycles, sports, music, movies.

Q: Favorite movie?

Pulp Fiction

Q: Favorite Band?

I can’t pick one, so here’s a valid and reliable sample: Metric, R.E.M., Massive Attack, Steely Dan, Young the Giant, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Chvrches, Curtis Mayfield,Tommy Bolin, Two Door Cinema Club, Rush, Neon Trees, Miles Davis, Tonio K., Hall and Oates, Trombone Shorty, Smashing Pumpkins, The Stylistics, Loudness, Green Day, Eurythmics, St. Lucia, Santana, Mother’s Finest, Lenny Kravitz; Earth, Wind, and Fire, Frank Zappa, and many more.

Q: Favorite Book?

The Pugilist at Rest
by Thom Jones.

Q: What is fine art?

Fine art is what I do, because the essence of my work is quality and beauty.

The term fine art is a translation of the French term beaux-arts and commonly refers to "art created primary as an aesthetic expression, to be contemplated or enjoyed for its own sake" (HC 153) or "the arts which are concerned with the beautiful or which appeal to the faculty of taste" (OED). A "beautiful" art is one that "excel[s] in grace of form, charm of colouring, and other qualities which delight the eye, and call forth admiration (OED).

The adjective fine can mean "consumate in quality," "delicate, subtle," or simply indicate a "general expression of admiration"; fine is likely a variant of the Latin finire or finish, which refers to "that which finishes or serves to give completeness or perfection to anything." (OED)

The lone term art is defined as "[human] skill; its display or application" (OED).

So if we combine these, we can arrive at the following: a work of human skill that is admired for its consumate, finished quality and enjoyed for its beauty or visual pleasure. Or we can abbreviate this to "a work admired for its quality and beauty." So there you go.

"Art." Oxford English Dictionary. 1989.
"Fine Art." Oxford English Dictionary. 1989.
"Fine." Oxford English Dictionary. 1989.
"Fine Art." Harper Collins Dictionary Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques. 1991.
"Finished." Oxford English Dictionary. 1989.