Photo Journal #36

Crested Butte, Colorado
Four years ago, when Rowie was a puppy, we took her to the dog park and met another Vizsla owner. After talking, we realized just how similar we were—the youngest of three boys, the same age, both in long-term relationships. We decided to plan a double-date breakfast with the pups and our then-girlfriends (Now wife and fiance)

Fast forward four years, and we now spend holidays together, go on trips, and have become inseparable—us and our pups. I love this story because it wasn’t a friendship made on the internet but in real life. When I think about all my best friends—the ones I talk to nearly every week—they’re all people I’ve met in person. Real relationships happen face-to-face.

This year, we spent Thanksgiving in Colorado with 10 friends who have since left NYC and now live in different parts of the country. It’s a reminder that life moves on, people spread out, but when you have real friends no time passes when you get back together.

Photo Journal #35

A friend of mine shared a post this morning that said, “How lucky am I to pay vet bills, to fall into bed exhausted, to feel heartbreak, to struggle with decisions, to wake up sore, to miss someone deeply, to be lost in a new city, to be terrible at something new.”

And it hit me like a ton of bricks.

This year has been turbulent with the highest highs and the lowest lows. Huge clients, tiny clients, late payments, payments that came early, new trips, unexpected bills, and wedding planning. I won’t lie—at times, I’ve thought, Why me? What the fuck have I done to be screwed over by someone?

Today, I’m saying, How lucky am I?
How lucky am I to learn how to bulletproof my contracts before it happens on a bigger job or at a worse time?
How lucky am I to be self-employed?
How lucky am I to share what I love to do with the world?

It’s a job I’ve taken lightly at times, and I don’t think anyone should. What you do is as important as you make it.

I’m very lucky to have struggles to overcome because, without them, I don’t think the effort would feel worth it—and the world would be a boring place.

Below is the current world champion stick ball team out of the Bronx, New York.
I didn’t grow top with my dad but he left a bag full of baseball and stickball stuff and as a kid I always wondered how it was played.
Boy is it a fast paced game that requires a lot of hand eye coordination.
Luckily I was able to crank a double on my first try at bat!

Photo Journal #34

We arrived in Denver on Tuesday afternoon after an eventful journey filled with some unique stops along the way. This wasn’t my first cross-country drive—I’ve made the trip from Brooklyn to California and back three times—but one of the hardest lessons to learn on these drives is taking the time to venture off the highways. It’s tempting to power through the middle states, dismissing them as empty stretches of road. But when you take the time to explore, you find places and people full of unexpected depth and skill.

One of those discoveries was Pedigo Submission Fighting, a gym that’s been making waves in the Jiu Jitsu world. Nestled in the small mining town of Mount Vernon, Illinois, this unassuming spot is home to some of the best Jiu Jitsu talent anywhere. After training there, I was blown away by the simplicity and intensity of their workouts. Sure, I got my ass handed to me, but I walked away having learned a lot in a very short time.

One thing that stood out during this trip is how accessible the instruction has been at every gym I’ve visited, including Pedigo. I’m not great with short-term memory, so I usually struggle to retain detailed coaching. But here—and at other top gyms along the way—the coaching has been refreshingly straightforward. Instead of hyper-technical jargon, they focus on clear, practical teaching that trickles down from their best fighters to the beginners. It’s ironic, in a way—these are some of the best gyms in the world, yet their teaching style is anything but complicated.

The culture at these gyms is just as impressive. Walking into a room full of people training to fight, you’d think the vibe might be intimidating. Instead, it’s welcoming—like a collective effort to help each other grow. That sense of camaraderie was especially strong at Pedigo, and it’s rooted in the story of how the gym was built.

The gym’s founder, Heath Pedigo, started with little more than a dream and an old, rundown laundromat called Daisy Fresh. Fighters lived and trained there—literally. They slept in sleeping bags on the mats or in their cars parked outside. Out of those humble beginnings came a team that dominated the Jiu Jitsu scene and gained recognition through a YouTube series by FloGrappling.

Today, the gym looks nothing like the rough setup it once was. It’s a two-story facility with dedicated spaces for Jiu Jitsu, wrestling, and strength training. The classes are packed, and the talent pool is global. During my visit, I met students from France, the UK, Italy, and Australia—all drawn to train under Heath. It’s no surprise that many of them leave as champions.

One standout athlete I had the chance to meet and photograph was Michael Pixley, who was recently sponsored by my friend’s company, VHTS. Pixley is a phenomenon. At 6’2” or 6’3” and around 220 pounds, he’s lean, powerful, and versatile—a multidisciplinary athlete with a background in judo and a three-time NCAA wrestling title to his name. And here’s the kicker: he’s only a purple belt, two levels below black belt. Yet, he’s beating black belts in competition.

Pixley’s schedule is grueling, but he still finds time to coach youth wrestling, which says a lot about his character. His success isn’t about secret moves or flashy techniques—it’s about mastery of the fundamentals across multiple disciplines. That philosophy seems to define Pedigo Submission Fighting as a whole.

What this trip—and my time at Pedigo—reminded me is that the best gyms don’t rely on gimmicks. Their strength lies in relentless discipline, a commitment to fundamentals, and a culture that fosters growth for everyone.

Below are photos from my experience with Michael Pixley and Pedigo Submission Fighting.

Photo Journal #33

On the road again, and it doesn’t come without its challenges. Unexpected expenses are something we planned for, but they seem to show up when you least expect it. This is especially important as a freelance photographer because some clients don’t care about paying on time. If that’s something you’re dealing with, I’m sorry—I’m trying to figure it out too. Once I find a way to bulletproof my contracts, the first thing I’ll do is share a blog on how to GET PAID ON TIME!

So far, we’ve driven from Brooklyn, made a quick stop in Jersey to go to one of our favorite fighting gyms (CULTR), and then spent the weekend in Richmond, Virginia, to visit some old friends. As you head south from New York City, the country seems to get less and less dog-friendly, with cities being the exception. Although they’re still not as dog-friendly as places like New York City or Mexico City.

From Richmond, we went to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, to check out the Great Smoky Mountains. They were stunning, and the views were amazing. If I were to go back to Gatlinburg, I’d stay in an Airbnb in the woods because the nature there is beautiful. We also drove through Pigeon Forge, which is the town next to Gatlinburg. If you like chain restaurants, this is your place—I didn’t know TGI Fridays or Red Lobster were still around, but in Pigeon Forge, they’re alive and well. The other surprise was that the Great Smoky Mountains National Park doesn’t allow dogs on any of the trails, except for service animals. This felt strange, as the only trail we did was a paved path about half a mile long. When I looked it up on the National Parks website, I found that none of the U.S. National Parks allow dogs on trails, to avoid them disrupting wildlife—which I understand completely. Luckily they allow dogs in the camping areas so if you’re going to bring your pup to a national park just don’t hike with them.

After the Smokies, we took off west through Tennessee to Nashville. After a long four-hour drive, we took Rowie to a park to play before dark. About 10 minutes in, she ran into a sharp stick, let out a yelp, and ran back to me with her eye closed. By far the scariest injury of her life—I thought her eye might have been impaired by the sharp stick. By the grace of God, we took her to the vet, and it turned out that her bloodied eye had been missed; the stick had gone above her eyeball, cutting only the inside of her eyelid. In the moment, I was pretty shaken, and afterward, I couldn’t help but think what it would be like to be a parent and have an actual child get injured. Luckily, kids can express their pain, either way it’s terrible to see something so innocent get hurt.

Since then, our luck has really turned around. As I write this, we’ve spent two days in Nashville. I got to visit an old friend and Muay Thai coach, P.J. McMahon, at the new Renzo Gracie gym in Nashville. I’ve been going to their early morning classes, and it’s amazing how much BJJ and Muay Thai can improve your mood, especially when you start at 5 a.m. The talent level of their competition team is something I’m not used to, so after two classes, I’m adapting as fast as I can. Meg and I have been working together on creating new photo shoots and videos just for ourselves, and that’s really the icing on the cake. Everyone’s healthy, happy, and we’re having fun together—and we’re starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Photo Journal #31

When I was younger, I bought a lot of books. I'd read a few chapters, scribbling notes in the margins, only to lose interest and move on to newer books that seemed to offer better solutions. Recently, I picked up some of those older books with the intent of finishing them. The notes I left behind often reflected goals, like having 10 steady clients or owning a home by 25. Not unreasonable goals, but I think if I’d finished the books, my goals might have changed. It’s clear to me now at 20, I was focused on what I would have rather than what I would do.

What would 25-year-old me have done with a home other than sleep in it and make a mess? It would’ve been a burden. Reading these notes now, I see how some of my priorities were mixed up, like I was racing to accomplish things for appearances—as if they would make me successful in my unconventional career path. What I did get right back then was focusing on building skills, but if I had finished the books, I would’ve realized that doing is more important than having.

The pictures below are from some random days at jiu jitsu. I’ve been bringing my camera to classes occasionally, just to capture the memories. One thing I love about jiu jitsu is that most of us go just to go. Most don’t compete. Like many sports, it’s for the sake of doing—for the love of movement, overcoming struggle, and, most importantly, constant learning. Unlike books that inspire us to make plans, jiu jitsu is about action. It’s a constant practice of learning, doing, and improving. In that way, jiu jitsu, like life, is less about what you have and more about what you do.

Photo Journal #30

There’s a certain energy in NYC that constantly draws me back in. Opportunity, creativity, and collaboration seem to thrive here. For me, NYC is one of the quickest ways for an American to gain new perspectives. With so many niche cultures doing things differently than most of us have seen before, the city offers a fresh way of seeing the world. But the fast pace creates a constant push and pull.

A part of me loves the chaos. The other part of me misses writing in my journal first thing in the morning, listening to the birds. It makes you question—why does there need to be a choice between the two? Why not both?

Can’t I thrive in chaos and recharge in nature?

Photo Journal #29

Growing up my uncles all road bikes and some even built them.
I remember how excited I was to see them kick start their bikes and hear them rumble off into the distance or to ride on the back of them.
Also hearing about how legendary Indian Larry’s bikes were from my uncles made this event all the sweeter for me.


Unlike the metal scene I grew up in motorcycle events never felt like a fashion show or that the way you looked was ever being judged. Instead it feels like a place where anyone can fit in no matter what you look like.
I really enjoy that.

Secondly I had only a couple hours to visit this event due to prior plans so I was only able to shoot in full sunlight which I find to be the most challenging light to take photos in. Shooting photos especially on the fly doesn’t always pan out how you want it too but it was fun to do it anyways.
Hoping for many more Indian Larry Block parties in the future.


Photo Journal #28

NORTH HAVEN OYSTER CO.

In college, I studied business, but it left me feeling empty. Around that time, I had just purchased my first camera, and what I loved about it then is still what drives me today. For me, photography satisfies a deep curiosity—a desire to constantly explore and understand new things.

That curiosity has always been a part of me. As a kid, I loved experimenting—whether it was playing with a slinky doorstop, building dams in moving water, or making a whistle out of grass. I think we’re all born really curious, and somewhere along the line, most of us let it die. Photography, for me, is a tool to explore that curiosity and keep it alive.

Opportunities like this, meeting new people and learning about their unique processes are what keep that curiosity going.

Photo Journal #27

Returning to Maine this time felt different—more emotional than I expected. When I saw my father’s image on a memorial, I felt grateful. My childhood was secure, protected by the unwavering love and care of my mother. Growing up, I never had to worry about the darker side of the world, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve seen just how many people prioritize personal gain at the expense of others. It’s been a harsh reality to confront.

Choosing kindness, I’ve realized, is far more difficult than choosing selfishness. It’s easy to be callous, to cheat, and lie, but it’s a lot harder to do the right things when the world has done you wrong. Life, to me, is about being moral, about caring for others. My mother embodied this belief. She went out of her way to be good to people, even when the easier path was to be indifferent or worse.

This trip to Maine reminded me of that goodness, the kind that still exists in people and communities. Meg and I ventured up the coast to explore the possibility of having our wedding here, in a place that held a special place in my father’s heart. It also brought back memories of my grandmother, who was such a guiding light in my life. She never judged anyone and was always a beacon of kindness. After spending time here, I can see where she got her gentle nature. Every person we passed waved at us—a gesture that, coming from New York, felt almost foreign at first. But it was too powerful to ignore. People here genuinely care, and there’s a sense of community that’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced elsewhere.

Even after being robbed a few times this past year and having my phone pickpocketed last week, I’ve found it easy to lose faith in humanity. But I’m ready to leave those experiences behind and find a place where I don’t have to constantly be on guard to protect myself and my family. Maine feels like the right place for us to say “I do”—not just for its beauty, but because it reflects the values that Meg and I share. This trip has reinforced that Maine might be the place where we can build something better, together.

Photo Journal #26

One of the best-kept secrets to gaining new business is giving back to the businesses you want to work for—without them even asking. Last year, I stumbled upon a soccer tournament where various clothing brands played against each other. You’d think these competing businesses wouldn’t get along, but every year, they set aside business and have an absolute blast in a friendly competition.

While walking my dog last year, I photographed the event and shared the photos that same night. Unexpectedly, those photos brought me a few new clients in the following months, just when I really needed it. This year, I happened to be in town again and knew I wanted to return and photograph it for an hour or so.

As I’ve said before, community is everything, but finding communities to photograph can be a huge challenge. My advice is to get out of your apartment as much as possible. It’s incredible what you’ll see happening out in the real world, and it’s a great opportunity to meet people who might need your services.

Photo Journal #25

What got you here won’t get you to the next level. What I mean is that if self-deprecation inspired you to create, it won’t serve you in the long run. For years, I beat myself up over how bad my photography was, and in the beginning, this criticism got me off the couch and out making photos.

Eventually, I started making money from my photography, but I was still focused on what I was doing wrong rather than on what I was doing right and could double down on. At some point, I looked around at the photographers I admired and realized that the niches they had fallen into were simply a result of doubling down on their strengths over the years.

As corny as it sounds, I’ve always loved the practice of making and curating images, even if it was just on a family walk. But the truth is, there are two parts to making images: one is the practice, and the other is how you feel about yourself.

Don’t let your head get in the way of your work. Making and enjoying the process is the most important part; everything else is just noise.

Photo Journal #24

Over the past few months, I’ve transitioned from being a freelancer with a few retainer clients in NYC to traveling and completely rebuilding my freelance career. The question I’ve been focusing on is straightforward: “How do I make money remotely as a freelance photographer?” The problem is, I don’t have a clear answer, but I’m experimenting with different approaches.

We started by leaving NYC to work on a personal project in Mexico, sharing the experience on social media. Then, I had my first solo exhibition, aiming to bring the photo and fighting communities in NYC together. As an added bonus, it subtly signaled to potential clients that I was freelancing again. Now, almost three months after the show, assignments are finally rolling in.

Here are the first five lessons I’ve learned from transitioning to remote work as a freelance photographer:

#1: Make personal work you're proud of. Share it often, and explain why it’s important to you or what you’ve learned from it. When I was trying to break into photography—and even now—I love learning things that can streamline my work or make it better.

#2: Don’t be afraid to cold email or set up random meetings with other creatives, directors, photographers, and artists. These people often share similar challenges or have overcome them and can offer useful habits for our line of work. Plus, I always leave these meetings feeling inspired and energized to create new work.

#3: Simple does it. Habits and consistency don’t need to be huge; they can be small actions, like taking one photo a day or sending one email a day to a client you want to work with. Over time, these tiny actions really add up. Like the best triathletes in the world, they didn’t start off running ultramarathons—they began with small runs that became easier and easier each day.

#4: Create content that addresses your potential clients’ problems. This has been top of mind for me lately. Make content that sounds like a Google search query, such as “How to share high-res photos with my designers.” This not only solves problems for other freelancers and businesses looking for freelancers but also helps build trust. It shows you’re an expert willing to help your clients improve their processes and ultimately make them look better in the eyes of their bosses.

#5: Navigate the challenges of remote freelancing. Before leaving our apartment in New York, Meg and I checked Airbnb and were shocked by the surcharges for short-term rentals. For example, $10k for an apartment in Costa Rica for a month—and it didn’t even have a stove, just a hot plate and mosquito nets. That’s way more than I was paying in NYC for a beautiful apartment with tons of amenities.

Faced with this dilemma, I decided to message several homeowners on Airbnb to see if I could trade photos for a discounted stay—and it worked. We found a place that was $8,000 per month on Airbnb, and we negotiated it down to $3,900. Still expensive, but we had saved up before making the trip. Recently, we discovered Furnished Finder, which is a much more affordable monthly stay website similar to Airbnb, but it’s for month-to-month stays, not just 1 or 2 nights.

If you’re seeking more freedom in your life, it’s not easy. But when you encounter these challenges, you have to get creative. Leverage your skills. Ask friends for alternative options. Many people have navigated remote freelancing before, and although it’s not easy, there are ways around the nonsense to make it more affordable and fulfilling.

Photo Journal #20

I've been debating whether or not I should make a post about this camera but I think it’s about time. The most common question I get about photography outside of questions about my editing process is often what camera should I get and in 2024 there are a lot of right answers. My response is typically “Why do you want to take photos or videos” and if the answer is a family photo album, for memory sake, or to have home video their is an entry level camera that has really blown me away for the past 3 months of owning is. https://www.dji.com/osmo-pocket-3 The Dji Osmo pocket 3 is a tiny little video camera that’s video quality is damn near my Canon r5 when shooting in good light.

And at $500 I think this is probably the best entry level video camera ever made. Other than an iPhone it’s the best camera for social media content and what I love about it v.s. your phone is that the storage is removable so you’re not wasting your money on cloud storage. Without going into all the bullshit specs camera companies try to sell you on it’s one of my favorite tools and I use it nearly everyday for social media content.

Do yourself a favor if you have a small business or want to capture family memories easily, get this camera.

Photo Journal #19

I recently committed to a challenge: doing something consistently for 100 days. Yesterday, while working, my computer notified me that I hadn't backed it up in 100 days. When I started this goal, 100 days felt overwhelmingly long, but that notification brought me back to the moment I last backed up my computer. I was packing for our trip to Puerto Escondido, and that memory feels like it was just yesterday.

This really put into perspective how long time feels going forward and how short it feels looking back. With small habits and consistency being top of mind lately, I’m realizing how much it helps to break our goals down into chunks of time and challenges. Whether it’s a week, 20, 40, 100 days, or a year, giving yourself a hard deadline to do something consistently can really be the switch you need.

For me, the deadline gets me moving as it reinforces a sense of urgency, but often the end goal is never to stop once it’s achieved, but rather to change your lifestyle completely.

Photo Journal #18

I’ve spoken about it briefly in my Instagram posts, but Meg and I have decided to leave our apartment in NYC this year, and it's for different reasons than you might think. For starters, we want to see what else is out there before we settle into a place for the long haul, but most importantly, we want to honor our values as a family. We love nature, time spent together, making things, and we want to focus on our health. The problem with our life in New York was that we only saw each other in passing because we were trying to build our schedules around our work while being fair to our dog. 2024 for us is about getting back to the most basic things that made us happy as children while still focusing on our careers.

Although that sounds all well and good, we’re three months into not having an apartment, and it is not as easy as we’ve anticipated. As I write this from a sublet in Brooklyn, NY, the cold hard fact is that we need money to live, and what place has more money than NYC in America? Not many.

Which brings me to my next point: a lot of people view NYC as a free ATM, like they can come here, try out for an acting gig, and get on Broadway, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. I like to think of this city more like a piggy bank, where you need to deposit more than you’re taking out; otherwise, you’ll overdraft your account.

For example, the photos below were taken on a Sunday walk. I knew there was a soccer league where all of the teams were owned by brands, meaning the players were primarily owners, directors, designers, etc. So I wanted to walk by and grab a few shots. After about 20 minutes of shooting, I edited the photos the same night, posted them to my Instagram story, and tagged the companies. To my surprise, a bunch of them reposted my work, and some of them booked me for shoots in the following weeks.

This is why giving to your community is at the heart of NYC and at the core of finding new work. Anyone can sit on their computer and send emails all day, but someone told me when I was first starting out as a photographer, “Show, don’t tell,” which has been some of the most sage advice in my career. Although I think this advice leaves out an important detail that I’d like to amend: you have to use your skills to show and give back to those you want to work for. By taking these soccer photos, I didn’t ask any of the companies for work; instead, I just gave them a little gift, and people love good photos of themselves.