I am wanting this year to be a benchmark year in my life as a photographer. I feel as though I have been hitting a glass ceiling for a few years as far as my creativity goes. I preach the importance of shooting, shooting, shooting yet I get so busy in life I forget to practice what I preach. I’m married, we have four kids, and a busy studio to keep going in addition to teaching. If I’m going to grow I have to be creating work. The 365 project model is perfect for this.

My first run at being a freelance photographer left me heavily in debt and placed my family on the edge of destruction which eventually tipped right on over despite all attempts to keep that from happening. I came to a place in my career that required me to put the cameras down and take a “job.” After two years of leaving the cameras and selling them off to pay rent and fix beater cars, I was given a chance to come back as a second shooter for a friend of mine who shoots weddings. I took a D100 that he bought me, a 285 flash, an ample amount of faith, and quit my job at Kinkos in October of 2003. I was determined to do things differently this time around.