Photography Thoughts & Stories from Tucson
Is a Professional Headshot Worth It If You Only Need LinkedIn?
An AI headshot costs $29 and might fool a recruiter completely. But LinkedIn has a rule about what your photo has to be, and it is not really about detection. It is about trust, the same trust that governs your work history and your degrees. Here's what that means for what you pay for.
A Few Tools to Help You Plan, Before We Ever Talk
Most free tools on a photographer's site are bait for your inbox. These three are not. One reads your pet before the session, one takes the dread out of a headshot, and one shows a print on your own wall at true size. No signup, no catch, and no funnel waiting on the other side.
Should I Groom My Dog the Day of, or Will He Look Too Groomed?
Bad haircuts have derailed more than a few pet sessions. Before you book a groom, ask yourself: does your dog look like himself the day he comes home, or does it take a week? The answer changes everything about when to schedule. Here's how to think it through.
Unseen: Pacific Northwest
Three years in the Columbia Basin with an infrared-modified camera, learning a landscape that didn't behave. From the wide basin views to the agricultural images made just before leaving, this series records two completely different relationships to the same high desert landscape: the work of arrival, and the work of departure.
Watermark Corporate Session
Twenty-one headshots in three hours at a Tucson foothills location with two lighting setups running simultaneously — indoor studio and outdoor with the Santa Catalinas in frame. The session went well. There's one decision I'd make differently, and it has nothing to do with the results.
The Patience Transfer
The same instincts I've built over twenty years photographing shelter animals, knowing when to wait, when to move, and when to let silence work, turn out to be exactly what executive portraits require. The nervous executive and the frightened shelter dog are solving the same problem.
You Just Graduated. Here's the One Thing Missing From Your LinkedIn.
You spent four years earning credentials. Your LinkedIn photo is still a cropped image from someone's going-away party. Before your job search gets serious, here's what a professional portrait session actually looks like, and why it matters more than most new grads expect.
Making Up for Lost Time:
X-rays at intake told part of Angel's story. A stray found in Marana, she arrived at HSSA carrying more history than anyone expected. What happened on a sunny Oro Valley porch a month after her adoption tells the rest.
The Graduation Gift That Actually Helps Them Get Hired
Your graduate worked hard to get here. A professional portrait session is the gift that keeps working after the ceremony ends, helping them show up prepared on LinkedIn, in job applications, and anywhere a first impression happens before a handshake.
From the Parking Lot to the OR:
The morning plan was simple: exterior shots, studio portraits, then documentary work inside the clinic. Then a dog got loose in the parking lot. What happened next covers five hours, a surgical suite, and more than I can count.
When There Isn't Much Time Left
Three dogs. Three families. Three sessions with a fixed horizon. Charlie could only walk in circles. Chowder spent his last morning at the park he loved. Jersey Girl wore a flower crown. None of them are here anymore. Their photographs are.
Where Photography Takes You: Inside Tucson Medical Center's Operating Rooms
A camera opens doors you never expect to walk through. Operating rooms at Tucson Medical Center. Robotic surgery suites. Pediatric recovery rooms. Each place taught me something different about photography and reminded me that the most useful lessons often come from the strangest assignments.
Capturing Pet Memories in Tucson
You know the photo. You took it last fall, caught your pet at exactly the right moment. Finding it again is another matter entirely. There's a reason a fine art print on your wall does something a camera roll never quite manages. Here's what a session designed around that outcome looks like.
Tucson Headshots: Why Most People Are Relieved Afterward
Most people don't want a headshot. They want to have one. If you've been putting yours off, you already know the difference. Here's why the session is almost always easier than the dread that precedes it.
The Grove, Shadwell Farm
A fence around trees that don't need containing. It stopped me when I made the photograph. It still does. Here's why.
How Much Does It Cost to Get Professional Photos of Your Dog?
Dog photography in Tucson ranges from $75 to $1,500. That gap isn't arbitrary, and understanding what drives it will help you make a decision you won't regret, whether you book me or someone else. Here's an honest breakdown from someone who's worked with thousands of dogs.
The Light That Was Already Leaving
In 2007, I had a camera modified to record infrared light and started photographing the Kentucky landscapes I'd spent years walking past without really seeing. This is what happens when you turn a lens on a place you're walking away from, before the memories have fully formed.
2026 Business Headshot Trends: What Tucson Professionals Are Asking For
The headshot industry is shifting in 2026, and the results are better for it. Here's what's driving modern portrait photography this year, from darker dramatic backgrounds to "polished, not plastic" retouching, and what it means for your session.
Is It Worth Paying for a Professional Headshot?
Most professionals assume a good phone photo is close enough. It isn't. Here's what you're actually paying for when you invest in a professional portrait, and why the math tends to work in your favor.