CA: What made you get into photography?
BD: I first got into photography around 2005. I’ve always been a fan of beautiful scenery and landscape photos, even as a kid. It wasn’t until I met a friend that had just got into taking photos on her blackberry as a hobby, and they were amazing pictures. She then pointed me into the direction of Flickr.com, and thats where I fell in love with photography. It inspired me to wanna try my hand at it, as a hobby of course. I wanted to capture all the beautiful scenery I liked around my house and town I stayed in. From there I started out with just a compact camera, taking pictures of any and everything. Until I was able to afford my first DSLR. I learned that photography was something that brought me peace. It gave me something to distract me from other things that would have otherwise gotten me into trouble. So you pretty much can say, photography saved my life.
CA: Explain how the cities of Chicago, Detroit, and Lansing have influenced your style of picture taking?
BD: Being from 2 big cities like Chicago and Detroit, moving to Lansing was definitely a change of scenery. But as far as photography, it was perfect for the type of stuff I love to shoot. I mean I do love Chicago, for cityscapes, because it’s a beautiful city in motion. Lansing, or the surrounding areas I frequent, it’s very still and calm. Those cities are total opposites in which both can greatly be appreciated in photos. Its shows big differences. What I do appreciate about where I live (Lansing) is I can venture out into secluded areas and shoot with no disruptions from the outside world, which is the peace I appreciate about it overall.
CA: Do you prefer taking portraits or landscape pictures? BD: Definitely prefer landscapes over people. Though I do love shooting people, they just make it more complex. In some cases, I have had the honor of shooting people just as natural as landscape. I even shoot them candidly, in those settings that I like a lot, and it blends naturally. I love when that happens.
CA: I see besides portraits and landscape pictures, you take a lot of pictures of sneakers. Tell us your passion for collecting sneakers and how it translates into your overall brand?
BD: I really owe it to my sneaker photography for getting me the exposure that has brought me business over the last couple years. I loved photography before I started collecting sneakers. Once I got into collecting sneakers, on this forum I frequent on Solecollector.com was where it all started with the sneaker photography. They had a thread especially for sneaker photography which was very inspiring. It turns out, I was good at it *laughs*. So as the exposure for that grew across social media, it grabbed the attention of people who otherwise, wouldn’t have ever known who I was. From that, they began to reach out wanting to hire me for my services, just off seeing a nice picture of their favorite sneakers. So I owe a lot of my success to that.
CA: Do you have any photographers you look up too at all? Anyone who inspires you?
BD: I’ve met a lot of photographers over the years that have inspired me. The one that comes to mind every time I’m asked this is my Amsterdam friend I came across on Flickr back in 2005 name Jinna van Ringen. She is my all time favorite photographer. Plus we’re friends and she’s very nice..
CA: How often do you shoot on a daily/weekly/monthly basis?
BD: I’d definitely be lying if I said I shoot daily *laughs* even though I should be. Recreationally, I shoot about 3 or 4 times a week. Professionally, I’m shooting about 12 times a month. But it really varies. I shoot a lot of various things but the main things I look forward to the most are the weddings. I do about two a month between March – October.
CA: As an avid Harry Potter fan (see the tattoo on your arm and mention of seeker in your IG), what house do you think you would be selected in? What house would you want to be in and why?
BD: I’m a Gryffindor through and through *laughs*. Or at least that’s where Pottermore has placed me (twice). I’ll roll with it. Might as well be with the best house Hogwarts has to offer *laughs*.
CA: How do you want your work/portfolio to be remembered for?
BD: As of now, I really want to be known as a great wedding photographer above all things. My fondness for being a wedding photographer has grown tremendously. I love shooting all types of things but I wanna be such a great wedding photographer that people book me years in advance. I want people to need me to shoot their wedding so bad that they’re willing to change their whole wedding date just to get me to be the photographer for it *laughs*. That’s the dream anyway.
