Two years ago, Audrie saw my work at a local charity auction fundraiser.  My work, a few 4×6″ prints printed at home on generic glossy photo paper, was all I had to showcase my passion.  It was my friend and owner of the tea lounge who had encouraged me to donate an item that year.  I reluctantly donated a portrait session, afraid that nobody would bid.  There were no strings attached.  I wasn’t trying to network, or showcase my work for that matter.  I just wanted to help raise money.  Back then, I didn’t see a future business in my passion, not because I didn’t want to but because it didn’t occur to me that I could sell this thing I loved doing so much.  I had no idea that people valued my perspective.  It was beyond my wildest dream that somebody could appreciate my visual interpretation of life around me.  To my surprise, the day of the event, attendees actually bid on my item.  Audrie outbid everyone and won.

Little did I know, she was about to hire me for her wedding.  I nearly jumped out of my skin and hid behind the counter.  At the time, instead of feeling excited for this opportunity, I felt inexperienced and unworthy.  I even tried to reject her over and over again.  I was convinced that I wasn’t a professional photographer and that she would be better off hiring someone else.  But Audrie rebutted my every attempt and assured me that I was the right photographer for her.  She loved what she saw on those 4×6″ prints and gave me her complete faith that I could do it.  Audrie said all of that with an endearing smile on her face, almost as if she didn’t believe I could fail.  And she gambled with her wedding day to prove it.

After deliberating with myself and a mentor friend, I finally decided to believe in Audrie.  Yes, I believed in Audrie for what she saw in me because I still couldn’t yet believe in myself.  On June 28th, 2008, I shot her wedding at a beautiful church in Downtown Tampa.

That wedding changed the way I would approach photographing people.  I learned that when your clients place absolute trust in you not because of how much you charge or your “professional photographer” status, the relationship you have with them is a friendship built of respect, trust, and kindness.  Audrie never once tried to tell me what to do or how to do it.  She connected with my work and respected me as an artist.  I didn’t approach her wedding like a stiff vendor who was eager for the day to be over and go home with a check.  Instead, I had newly discovered creative liberty and made some of my favorite wedding images to date.  I knew I didn’t want to be that traditional wedding photographer making traditional wedding photography.  I didn’t go to great lengths to defend my creativity to allow unmemorable images define my work.  That’s when I realized that I could do away with the rules and just be ME, wedding or not.  And that’s exactly who Audrie wanted.

To this day, I’m still astonished, grateful, and inspired that someone who only saw a few 4×6″ prints of my work decided to gamble their most valuable memories on me.  While I never rushed to become a wedding photographer, or proactively sought to shoot weddings in particular, I have been so blessed to continually meet the right clients who all fit this client model.  I’ve fallen in love with the pace, emotions, and moments of wedding photojournalism, and most importantly, with my clients’ families and love for each other.  Tears and laughter remain my favorite to document.

What might surprise you is that I have more stories of these unusual beginnings, all that share something in common: People who wholeheartedly believed in me when I was afraid to believe in myself.

Audrie in 2008:

2010 with Baby Eugene:

A very special thank you to Audrie, whom I’m indebted to for her immense faith in me.  I’m greatly honored to have witnessed her becoming a wife, and now a mom to a baby boy.