BFA Graduate
3 years ago I was transitioning from the Coast Guard and still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, now that I had to grow up. I wanted a job where I enjoyed going to work everyday, like when I was in the CG. While at a job fair in Tampa, I talked to some recruiters from The Art Institute of Tampa. I wasn’t really interested but I told them I would go to their Open House coming up. At the time, i had been shooting for about 8 years and was self taught. i thought I new everything I needed to know and school was a waste of time for me. Plus I didn’t want to lose the joy of shooting. Up until this point, I used photography for fun and a stress reliever. I didn’t want to lose the joy of something by making it a job.
Well I wasn’t expecting much. There are some campuses that have garnered their fair share of negative publicity so I expected to be shown a bunch of mediocre portfolios. Boy was I WRONG. I came home from the Open House and told my wife that I was enrolling. Three years later and I am on the eve of my graduation portfolio show. I have gone from thinking I can’t be taught anything to I am not sure if it is time for me to go because I feel like there is so much left to learn and that I am just scratching the surface. I have also gone from shooting nothing but landscapes to shooting nothing but portraits.
Here are some of my favorite pictures from my time at school. You can hopefully see a transition in my photos and a transition in quality too.
I’d like to thank everyone that has helped me with my projects. I also would like to recognize “The Gang”, Erika, Iris, Shannon and Kirstin. You guys pushed me harder then you realized and ended up making me a better photographer. Special thanks goes out to Jessica and Caridad. You two are my muses. It seems like whatever i come up with you guys are game, thank you. Albert, brother…. if it wasn’t for you, i would probably still be shooting sunsets and waterfalls. You made that first shoot awesome and made me want to shoot more people. Then you also were game for anything and then you would go out and find people that were also game. Words can not appreciate everything you’ve done for me. To my photo teachers Jim and Selina. You guys pushed me and pushed me and then let me go off and do these crazy photo projects. The freedom you guys gave me with my projects made me who I am as a photographer. Last but not least, my family. My wife Grace and daughter Faith have been amazing during this time. I could not have done it without them..