LA & PDX: Interiors + Portraiture.
Winner American Photography 39.
You can now order prints from my new series, Midcentury Objectified!
👇Links below
ADVANCED COPY HAS ARRIVED! What a thrill it is to finally be able to flip through Midcentury Modern Style, published by @gibbssmithbooks , that @destinationeichler and I have worked so long and hard to produce. I cannot wait till you get your hands on a copy! Bonus beauty illustrations by @aishahomestylist ! Officially released oct 3, a preorder link is available in my bio!
SO EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE!!! My new book is available for pre order! Yes, a new book, this time all things Mid-Mod! My dear friend and wildly talented interior designer Karen Nepacena aka @destinationeichler and I worked closely on this gorgeous and informative book titled Midcentury Modern Style: An approachable guide to Inspired Rooms, and it’s packed with incredible spaces from a dozen homes throughout the Bay Area and even an historic Acorn Deck House in Vermont! You can pre-order it at @bookshop_org (Link in bio sites in my bio above), your local bookseller, Amazon and B+N. Hugely grateful to our publisher @gibbsmithbooks , Editor Gleni Bartels, Art Director Ryan Thomann, @margotantu  for the pitch and our incredible homeowners who allowed us to share their spaces for the book!
Pre orders are hugely important in the book world, so if ya think ya might wanna copy, pre ordering would be super helpful!
I was at the @nortonsimon Museum a few months ago when this just…happened.
I didn’t set anything up, I didn’t move, I just watched it come together in front of me. The painting, the bench, and this group all folding inward toward something. In this case, a baby, but the way they gathered around it felt familiar.
Right out of the phone without retouching, it had this quiet, accidental resemblance to a Renaissance composition. The way the bodies lean, the way the attention converges, everything pointing toward a single focal point without anyone performing for it.
What stayed with me wasn’t the painting behind them, it was that structure. How something so ordinary could echo something so studied, just by the way people naturally arrange themselves around something that matters.
I keep thinking about how to recreate that without losing what made it work in the first place. Still chasing it. Watch this space.
This one was really about alignment, and getting everything to sit just right so the island, the windows, and that opening to the side all feel connected without competing. I wanted the frame to feel open, but still controlled, like your eye can move through it without getting stuck anywhere.
The light is doing a lot here, but it still needed a little guidance. Pulling it in just enough so the cabinetry doesn’t wash out, while keeping that soft, even feeling across the floor and back wall. The goal was to hold onto that brightness without losing the shape of anything.
The second image shifts into something more compressed and directional. Using that corridor to create a bit more depth and letting the verticals do more of the work. Same palette, same materials, just a different way of organizing the space once you move a few feet over.
It’s always small adjustments, but they can change everything.
We wanted the fireplace to feel like an anchor without letting it take over the whole frame, so it became more of a divider than the subject. Enough weight to split the space, but still letting the living area breathe on the other side.
Light-wise, the goal was to hold onto that soft, natural feeling while still giving the materials enough separation to read. The stone, the wood, the leather all needed their own space without competing.
The second frame opens it up a bit more. Letting the exterior come into play, pulling that darker wall into the composition, and giving the eye somewhere to move beyond the interior. Same space, just a wider conversation.
Mostly just trying to keep the balance between structure and softness.
Project by @thesisstudiopdx
I was thinking about restraint when I photographed this.
The space already has a strong point of view, so the goal wasn’t to add much, just to be precise about where I stood and what I let into the frame. Keeping the composition tight enough that the fixture, the painting, and the table all hold tension with each other without anything taking over.
The light is doing a lot of the work, but it still needed a little shaping to stay consistent across the scene. I wanted it to feel natural and even, without flattening out the texture in the walls or losing the depth in the darker tones of the table and chairs.
The second image is really about compression. Moving in, simplifying, and letting the materials carry more of the image. Same space, just a different read once you remove the context and let the light and texture do the talking.
Trying to keep everything feeling intentional, but not overworked.
Project by @thesisstudiopdx
I made this portrait of my friend Miche McCausey, an artist whose work moves between care, community, and making. Miche’s practice spans a few worlds. Through @owlwatchoveryou they work around grief care and pediatric end-of-life support, something that is very rarely spoken about. Through @mccauseyartstudio you’ll see the other side of their practice, large-scale mural work that brings color and story into public spaces. When I photographed them, I wanted the portrait to feel soft and grounded. Serious, but not heavy. The kind of caring presence that reflects how Miche shows up in the world. The warm light wrapping around their face does most of the heavy lifting of this image, while the shadow side falls away just enough to soften the highlights and keep the whole frame balanced. Sometimes the simplest setups are the ones that feel the most honest. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MICHE!
You can follow Miche McCausey at @mccauseyartstudio and @owlwatchoveryou .
Light changes how we read a space more than almost anything else.
The first frame feels open, alive, almost playful. Sunlight pours across the floor, the shadows stretch long, and suddenly the whole room has energy. Even the little #dachshund wandering through becomes part of the composition. Movement, warmth, life.
The second frame is the same architecture, the same materials, the same camera position. But the light softens, the contrast drops, and the room feels quieter. More contemplative. Without the dog, it almost becomes a study in form and proportion. Neither is better. They just tell different stories. The design is constant, but the light changes the psychology of the space. It can make a room feel social, introspective, dramatic, or calm. That’s one of the fun parts of photographing architecture. You’re not just documenting a room, you’re shaping how it feels with light.
Project by @thesisstudiopdx
This primary bath feels like it was designed for someone who really pays attention to space. Everything is deliberate. The long sightline through the shower, the way the window pulls light all the way through the room, and the quiet contrast between warm walnut and soft stone. It’s minimal, but not cold. Precise, but still comfortable. Swipe and you’ll land in the dressing area, where the mood shifts just slightly. Same materials, same calm palette, but a little more intimacy. A place to slow down for a minute before stepping back into the day. I love when a space can hold both of those energies at once.
Project by @thesisstudiopdx
Some rooms don’t need much. An iconic chair, a massive window, and the kind of light that does half the work for you. What I love here is the mix of natural light coming through those big windows and the quiet glow from the strip lighting tucked into the ceiling. It’s subtle, but it shifts the whole mood of the room. Soft daylight during the day, a little architectural drama once the sun drops. Also, an Eames lounge chair in a space like this just feels right. One of those rare pieces that can carry an entire corner without asking for backup. Clean, calm, and a reminder that sometimes the best design decision is simply not adding more.
This stunning project is by @thesisstudiopdx
I really like when people show up in interior photographs. A room without people lets the design breathe. You can study the lines, the materials, the proportions. It becomes a kind of quiet portrait of the architecture. But the moment someone moves through the space, the whole thing shifts. You understand the scale differently. The room has a rhythm. It starts to feel lived in instead of simply observed. I’ve been wanting to explore that balance more in my work. Not in a staged, lifestyle-heavy way, but just enough presence to remind you that these spaces are meant to be used, walked through, and inhabited. Swipe and you’ll see both versions here. I love what each one does, but let me know what you prefer in the comments.
Project by @thesisstudiopdx
@theneiljackson on 4x5.
Shooting large format always shifts the mood. The tripod goes down, the dark cloth comes out, the world flips upside down, and suddenly we’re not rushing anymore. It’s just light, time, and a little bit of trust.
There’s no rapid-fire safety net or checking the back of the camera every two seconds. One sheet of film. One decision. Commit and move on.
What I love about photographing actors this way is how the energy settles. The pauses stretch out. The performance becomes less about doing and more about being. When you know each frame actually counts, a portrait subject show up differently, and I show up differently too.
It’s slower, yes. A little dramatic. Slightly inconvenient. And completely worth it.
4x5 forever.
