ABOUT

I took photos in high school and followed my passion to West Virginia University, where I worked as a staff photographer and eventually photo editor for our student-run newspaper, The Daily Athenaeum. It was during my time that I fell fully in love with the art of photography. One of my professors and mentors brought high-profile journalists and photographers to speak to us. I covered the 9/11 attacks, photographing the wreckage of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon. I also covered the visits of Vice President Al Gore and then-presidential candidate George W. Bush during their 2000 campaign.

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The journalism bug bit me hard while I was in college, and before I knew it, I was working full time for the newspaper my picture appeared in alongside the photographer who took it.

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During my nearly 13 years at The Dominion Post, I performed all aspects of newspaper photography, specializing in sports and spot news. I was assigned to cover the WVU Football and Men's Basketball teams and handled the coverage for away games for both. My photos have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today and hundreds of other publications and websites. 

 

I received multiple awards from the West Virginia Press Association and Keystone Media Awards. I was also selected for multiple West Virginia Associated Press Photo of the Month awards. In 2007, I was named The Dominion Post Employee of the Year.

 

I saw what was becoming of the newspaper industry, and I decided that I need more stability for my family. Since July 2013, I have been working as a telecommunicator with the Monongalia County Homeland Security Emergency Management Agency. Two years after I was hired, I was promoted to shift sergeant.  

 

It always bothered me that I never finished my undergraduate degree, so, in 2021, I re-enrolled as a full-time student at WVU, and I expect to graduate in December 2022. Being a college graduate has been a dream of mine, and I am very much looking forward to making that dream a reality.

 

Just like my desire to finish college, I’ve never lost my passion for taking photos. I have worked as a freelance photographer since I left the newspaper business – most recently taking event photos for WVU Medicine. I have also taken an interest in travel photography – capturing images wherever life leads me: across the country to California, Nevada, Arizona, and Hawaii, and even across the globe to Australia and New Zealand.