What is the story behind Stonetree Creative?
When people start to get to know us, they quickly realize I never set out to be a photographer.
But I’ve learned that life tends to be most interesting when you just let the universe unfold like it should.
My Background
After corporate career in the Fortune 100 working for Cisco Systems and then as a management consultant in Mergers & Acquisitions, I switched my focus to photography where I felt more alive than I ever did sitting in a cubicle working for someone else.
I quickly developed a national brand with Firelance Media working in the outdoor industry creating content for manufacturers and shooting editorial pieces for magazines, but something was still missing. Then, as I looked through all of my previous work, I was looking for that missing piece, and I came to realize that through images, I had the power to truly change lives, and that those lives may go on to change the world.
So whether I was helping small businesses with their product photos or videos to help them grow, there was an opportunity to mix my passion for helping others with my business and that’s where the idea for Stonetree Creative developed. So life is funny.
When Things Started to Change
I used to hide. I hid from cameras, from people in my relationships, from my friends. Hell, I’ll be honest, I was hiding from myself and I was too embarrassed to truly be seen for who I am or let the real me out.
I was never good enough or thin enough or smart enough or successful enough. It’s only when I learned that those are all just lies that I tell myself that I really started to grow.
And that liberation, that’s a feeling I want everyone to have, to feel free to be themselves exactly as they are. To be genuine, to be authentic, without fear of judgment to be free, that is absolute beauty.
So after several years as a commercial photographer, I opened Stonetree Creative to focus on creating a portrait studio that isn’t what you’d expect. This isn’t about how expensive my cameras are, what the studio looks like.
The Mission of Stonetree Creative
It’s about your experience. I’m here for you.
The photos at the end of the day are just paper and cardboard, but the stories behind them the emotion the connection with yourself, the power of your own strength cannot be printed.
That’s what makes each image so special. They’re physical reminders of how beautiful you truly are inside and out. That every second of your life good or bad has brought you right here to this exact moment. And that’s what I wanna help you discover.
I want to help you love you. That’s what we do here. That’s all part of our portrait process.
Because you matter, your story matters. And I want to be the one to help you share that amazing story with the rest of the world.
