What do you do now, and how did you get there?
Photo: Jerome Miron
In December 2021, I became the team photographer for the Atlanta Falcons, joining an impressive roster of brilliant creative minds at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and also in Flowery Branch.
Prior to the NFL, I was the lead photographer for Auburn Athletics. I enjoyed capturing the distinct cultures within each of our 15 teams and the personalities of student-athletes, in addition to working with writers and marketing departments to develop and refine the visual identity of the athletics department. As someone who thrives on creative challenges and variety, it was a rich environment to push the visual envelope and innovate across a wide range of sports.
Before that role, I was a Digital Media Manager at USA TODAY Sports Images (which underwent a rename to Imagn in January 2019) for six years. Like most people in modern sports media, I wore many hats. My main project was curating a product set of headshots across all the professional sports leagues in North America. I also generated galleries featuring our best imagery for our sports coverage, in addition to growing our Instagram following by 64% in under a year.
I also served as a photo editor, both onsite and remotely. This role is best summated by saying I reviewed a large amount of photos in a short amount of time and evaluated their quality and relevance to the game story, while that story is unfolding. Editing requires a broad understanding of what counts as a strong, relevant photo in addition to a level of technical skill for processing images quickly for broadcast, which has made my photography better as a result. I have edited three Olympics, as well as several Super Bowls, Final Fours, NBA Finals, and major PGA events.
While at USA TODAY, I also pursued my photography goals, and some of my favorite images came from Olympic bobsled and ski jump, plus a World Series and NFL games in Houston. I’m honored to say my work has appeared in the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, ESPN the Magazine, and USA TODAY.
What are some of your favorite moments of your career thus far?
I’ve been fortunate to have several highlights, and hope to continue to add to this list!
Capturing an image that became popular after the "miraculous" 2013 Auburn-Georgia game
Working three Olympics with USA TODAY (2014, 2016, and 2018) as a photo editor
Being on the USA TODAY NETWORK team that produced The Wall project, which won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting
Serving as a panelist at SXSW 2019 alongside Reuters senior photographer Lucy Nicholson, Reuters global sports editor Pawel Kopczynski, and sports journalist Kevin Egan
Covering the Aldrin Family Foundation’s Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Gala at Kennedy Space Center in July 2019
Photographing two astronauts, Charlie Duke and Nicole Stott (along with a group of space aficionados), during a Zero-G flight for Space for a Better World and Omega in May 2021
Zero-G and I feel fine
Here’s a screen grab from a video of me taking photos of Charlie Duke and Nicole Stott in zero gravity, May 2021. It was the perfect day, with so many of my favorite things all wrapped into one—action photography, aviation, and space.