From the Battlefield to the Lens: How Discipline Shapes My Photography

Launching this website is more than sharing a gallery of images — it’s sharing a way of seeing the world that was forged over decades of service. Before I became a fine art photographer, I served as a Green Beret in the U.S. Army. Twenty-five years in that environment taught me lessons in patience, discipline, and attention to detail that remain with me every time I step behind the camera.

In the military, the smallest detail can be the difference between success and failure. That instinct to observe, to notice, to prepare — those habits have carried over seamlessly into my art. When I compose a photograph, I’m not just waiting for the light to be right. I’m watching how the scene shifts with every passing second. I’m listening for the quiet moment when a landscape or a street corner reveals its true character.

Patience, too, is essential. Just as missions required long hours of waiting for the right time to act, photography demands an ability to slow down and let the world unfold.

This past week, for example, I spent the entire night in an elevated position overlooking St. Augustine, waiting for the right moment to capture a long exposure of the city. At nearly 2 a.m., after hours of stillness, I finally found what I was looking for — a 12-minute time-lapse that revealed the city in a way few people ever experience.

I plan to submit this piece to the St. Augustine Art Association’s Fantastic Florida exhibit, which runs November 7th through December 28th. Until then, I’ll keep the image under wraps. But the process itself — the quiet waiting, the refusal to settle for “good enough,” the discipline to see it through — says as much about the art as the photograph itself.

And finally, discipline — the steady hand that carries through every stage of the process. From scouting a location, to carefully curating which images make it into my collection, to ensuring every print meets the highest standards before it reaches a client’s wall.

This website represents the culmination of those values. Each photograph is more than a beautiful image — it's the result of a way of life rooted in discipline and focus, honed in places far from the cobblestone streets and coastline of St. Augustine.

My hope is that when you view these prints, you see not only the scene itself, but also the deliberate, patient care with which it was captured. Art that invites you to pause. To notice. To reflect.