I literally had just a point and shoot camera with my underwater housing I bought for Hawaii 2 years prior. Connecting w/ Cody was a recommendation from a mutual friend. I sent out a message with just a basic outline of a concept and I was only test shooting.

”This sounds awesome, let’s do it!” and we were off to Newport, RI the next weekend.

My main goal for the longest time was simple; Get good at a thing until it kills you. I decided long ago I wanted that to be Conceptual and Editorial portraits. I want to tell stories of interesting people, and to this day, strive to get there. However, over the years (11 to be exact), the feelings of the people I was working with, communities I was apart of, and the constant unprofessionalism of working “models” and portrait “talents” was grinding at me. Relationships began to sour with every change of date, every last minute cancelation, every no call no show. Even when people did show, it was less about collaborating anymore like years prior, and more of people pressuring me to shoot things that fit running trends. I wasn’t getting shots that fit my vision of "quality and artistic portrait work”, and frankly, I was approaching a breaking point.

I decided two years ago, I needed a change. I stopped messaging models, I removed myself from their social groups, I poured myself into things that made me happy outside of creating art, and just…stopped taking portrait photos almost all together. Only time a camera was out was traveling, which was far more interesting being something new than anything I had done the last 2 years in portrait work…I was starting to feel good again…until I wasn’t.

I’m sure like many of you other fellow creatives reading this, this experience is not foreign to you; where you have needed distance from our art, and then after you have taken that time, you start to have an almost natural calling to not waste anymore time fighting the urge to get back into creating your professional works.

In my case, I wasn’t going to thrust myself back into where I was before. That ship has sailed. So I sat and thought, I walked and thought, I fished and thought, and that’s when it hit me on a Saturday morning with my fishing buddy…There is art right here, untapped potential, a world of unique faces, a lifestyle that is easily editorialized…I decided at that moment I wanted to document this, but do it different then what I was used to seeing.

I didn’t want a series of catches and trophies, I wanted a series of the people that make this form of fishing awesome, the Surfcasters.

Whenever I start a new project, and especially something I’ve never photographed before, I don’t make heavy financial investments, and I don’t really try to make extensive game plans. I have found over the years for my process, that a long term project needs time to grow and mature. No amount of creative briefs or planning will guarantee a project ends up where I initially wanted it to go (and trust me, that has very much been the case with this series since these initial photos were created). I find it’s better to throw myself headfirst into it and see what sticks.

I showed up, armed with a Sony Rx100 Point and shoot, inside an Amazon Sea Frogs underwater case, a cheap waterproof LED light, and my Pocket DJI Drone inside of a roll top beach bag. Needless to say, I felt ill prepared, and anxious if I could even get good photos of this during a test with such small and intermediate level gear going into sunset. The lack of access to dynamic ranges from more professional gear seemed like a big hurdle, but I was there and ready as I could be. Cody, having met him for the first time, was feeling incredibly confident, so I went with his vibes over mine.

Things felt stiff for the first 30 mins, but over the next 2 hours of time, I started to really feel present and immersed. For the first time in years, I felt myself getting into the a genuine flow state. I could feel my excitement building up for every moment I got to be in the water.

No fish caught that night...typical for the daily surfcasting grind, but not so good for photos.

All in all, it didn’t matter. I was wet from head to toe, I took over 500 photos, my muscles were sore, and I had a 2 hour drive back home with my 7am day job calling, but I was truly happy.

What we may have missed in catching fish, taking photos, was made up for in making a new friend, and having a good time just doing what we both do best.

The Photos that changed my path

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