HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE BUSINESS?

While in college, my father gave me a camera. Immediately, I started shooting for East Carolina University while working on my social work degree. Social work was training me to understand what to look for. The experience of shooting all the time for the school helped me perfectly capture these stories.

BEST ADVICE TO YOUNG PEOPLE IN YOUR PROFESSION?

Become an expert on a subject and learn to provide a finished product, which means more than just photography.

All my clients hire me because I know a good deal about their industry—not just photography.

I am a visual storyteller using a photojournalistic approach to helping organizations build customer loyalty. My social work degree and M.A. in communications make me uniquely qualified to help people correct their environment by looking at all aspects of their life and culture.

You need to go to people with ideas and not wait for the phone to ring for someone to shoot them. The more you know about the subject and audience, the better you are positioned to develop ideas to help your client engage their audience with the content you create.

Today, I combine my photography, video, audio, and writing to help put together complete packages that my clients can use right away. Unfortunately, too many of my colleagues want to shoot and are no longer shooting because they expected the client to know what to do with their images.