Growing up in a tourist town usually means at some point in your life, you’ll more than likely find yourself working at a restaurant. With that said, I ended up getting my first job at 14 bussing tables. At that point in my life I had no idea what I wanted to do as a career and college was quickly approaching. Senior year of high school, I came across my dad’s old portfolio and became interested in photography. That was all well and good, but everyone told me I couldn’t make a living off it and I should have a back up plan. It was now 2012 and I found myself at a community college while still working at a restaurant, trying to take photos whenever I could and still didn't have a clue what I wanted to do. I had always liked the idea of traveling and one day thought it’d be cool to travel around the country with a camera and document everything. I forget what I was searching for, but I came across a page online where people were converting work vans into small campers. That idea intrigued me very much and now I had a goal. Over the next several years, I continued working at a restaurant, bussing tables and cooking with the hopes of one day having enough money saved to get a van of my own. In 2015 I finally had enough money saved and headed to the dealership ready to trade in my paid off sports car for a work van and a car payment. After getting the Ford Transit, I spent the next year or so still working at a restaurant, taking photos when I could and selling some of my work at shows hosted by local businesses. I can’t even remember what happened, but one day while at work I got mad and said to myself, now or never and told my boss when my last day would be. About 4 days after my last day, I left Maryland by myself with a few hundred dollars, some clothes, a month supply of food and a lot of camera equipment and told myself I would never work for someone again and that this was what I'd be doing for the rest of my life. Here I am almost a year later and shooting photos and now video full time and loving every minute of it. Sure I'm not a millionaire, but I have a million stories about the places I've been, the people I've met and dumb dangerous situations I've put myself into. I guess really what I'm trying to say, is that you can do whatever you put your mind to and work hard at it because trust me, one day it's going to pay off.
Feel free to watch the video below to see what my past year has looked like.
If you'd like to check out some of my work, feel free to click the link below and if you want to see any more of my work feel free to follow along on instagram
