When I was in St Thomas, about 24 hours before the storm, when they started to say, okay, Hurricane Irma is not going to veer it's path, and it's coming straight for us like a buzzsaw; everyone started boarding up their windows and stockpiling water and supplies. I went to stay with the guy I was dating at the time, because he lived in a concrete house and mine was wood. I remember saying, "I am afraid of these windows,” and he shrugged it off, "Meh, hurricanes... they'll be fine."And sure enough, the f--king front door — this massive slab of dense mahogany — blew inwards and bent backwards on the hinges, and the pressure from the wind moving through the apartment jutted those windows out like Jenga. All that was left was a five foot hole in the wall.
We had to hide in the bathroom for hours.I feel as if I'm watching the path of the storm all over again right now.
And it's just about time to board up the windows.
Alternate Aspect™ Photography | Photography for Story-Tellers
I have always been drawn to storytelling; not just through words, but through images that challenge, provoke, and demand attention. Photography, for me, isn’t just about capturing what’s in front of the lens. It’s about revealing what’s been hidden, erased, or ignored.I grew up in a conservative area of Pennsylvania but was always deeply curious about the world. As a child, I was an observer: watching, questioning, and noticing the ways people justified their perspectives, even when they contradicted reality. I’ve always loved solving puzzles that don’t exist, systems no one thought to question, stories no one thought to tell.I once planned to be an engineer. I spent three years in a 3+2 collegiate program, making the Dean’s List while tackling courses like 3D Calculus and Linear Algebra. But when I was set to transfer for my final two years, the 2008 financial crisis hit, and the system that promised opportunity instead pulled the rug out from under me. My loan eligibility changed overnight; not because I had failed, but because higher education was designed to profit off of people like me, not support success. Suddenly, I didn’t have enough to cover both rent and books at the same time.My choices were to take on insurmountable debt, or walk away.
So I chose a different path.With no clear future but an unshakable curiosity about the world, I started traveling; first out of necessity, then out of purpose. What began as an escape became a journey of self-discovery and a deeper understanding of the world. I started in the Virgin Islands — a place that still holds a very special piece of my heart — where I picked up a camera and began capturing the breathtaking beauty of the islands and its culture. From there, my journey took me across the world, from Spain to Morocco, Ireland, Romania, Mexico, Turkey, and more. I immersed myself in different cultures, learning not just about people, but about power, history, and the forces that shape our realities.Had I been able to finish college, I’d have degrees in Mechanical Engineering, Liberal Arts, and Mathematics. Instead, I spent the last 17 years working in restaurants, where I found a different kind of education. As a bartender, I’ve had thousands of conversations with people from every walk of life. I listened as they shared their truths, struggles, and experiences — the ones that too often go unheard.At Alternate Aspect Photography, my passion is to create visually striking, deeply immersive imagery. My work spans portrait and brand photography, but at its core, it has always been about telling stories that matter. That mission is what led me to create the When It’s You Project, a conceptual photography series confronting cultural biases through reversed power dynamics.This project is deeply personal to me. Growing up, I was taught to accept the world as it was. But the more I experienced, the more I saw through the smoke and mirrors; the ways in which injustice is dismissed until it reaches our own doorstep. When It’s You is about breaking that cycle. It’s about forcing the question:Will it finally matter when it happens to you?Through visual storytelling, I hope to bring these conversations to the surface, challenge perspectives, and document the lived experiences of those who refuse to be erased.If you’re here, you’ve felt it too: the discomfort, the urgency, the need to make people see what they would rather ignore.You can explore more of my work through Alternate Aspect Photography, or return to When It’s You to continue the conversation.