I'm a documentary portrait photographer based in Orange County, Ca. My whole approach comes down to one thing: I'd rather follow you through a real day, at your desk, on a call, at home with your family, than sit you in a studio and ask you to smile. I photograph your story as I see it happening, not a version staged for the camera. That's what documentary portraiture means, and it's the work I love most.
What is documentary portrait photography?
It's portraiture shot in your real world instead of a backdrop. Environmental, candid, day in the life. Instead of posing you, I follow you through the office, through the work, through the moments that actually make up who you are. You keep doing your thing. I catch the story living inside it.
Why do I shoot documentary instead of traditional portraits?
Because I've always been chasing the story, not the pose. I started taking photos when I was young, and the pull was never toward the clean, controlled shot. It was toward finding the angle nobody else was looking for. When I was coming up I'd get on sets and follow hip hop artists around, trying to find the story living inside the scene and shoot it my way. Filming or shooting a model, I always leaned into a creative angle, into what I wanted to see. That instinct never left. It just turned into how I shoot portraits now.
What does a session actually look like?
I follow you. I'd love to spend a day in your office watching you work, or with your family in the space that's really yours. No stiff setups. I move with you and document the real thing: the focus, the movement, the in-between moments nobody usually catches. Then I hand you a set of images that tell your story the way I saw it unfold.
The photographer who proved you can do it your own way
One name I keep coming back to is Eddy Chen, who shot behind the scenes on all three seasons of Euphoria, plus The Idol, White Lotus, and The Summer I Turned Pretty. He grew up in Orange County, same as me, and his story stuck with me. When he started shooting for networks, they handed him rigid guidelines: shoot flat, shoot straight, keep it clean. He burned out fast, because there was no room to create anything of his own. A mentor told him to always shoot something for yourself, so he started bringing his own film cameras onto set and shooting loose, textured, and editorial, on his own dime, until the work spoke for itself. That instinct became the Euphoria look, right down to the key art. I think about that a lot, because it's the same thing I've always believed: the shot worth taking isn't the standard one. It's the one that's unmistakably yours because of how you saw it.
Want your story documented this way?
If you're a founder, a creative, or a family, anyone whose real life is more interesting than a posed photo, this is the work I'd love to do with you. Work with me.