SILVER HILL IMAGES

freelance visual ARTIST

MY RoleS

FOUNDER / ARTIST
PHOTOGRAPHER
PRODUCER
WRITER
INSTRUCTOR
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN
SERVICE DESIGN
WEBSITE DESIGN
UX / UI
MARKETING / ADVERTISING
BOOK KEEPING

BACKGROUND

Silver Hill Images is the brand I created to work as a freelance creative entrepreneur.

2001

Started Silver Hill Images.

2003

Went full time as a photographer and creative consultant.

Was living in Phoenix, Arizona.
Assisted other photographers.
Worked as a photographer for DFD Cornoyer -Hedrick, a local architectural firm.

2005

Moved to Nashville, TN to pursue people photography.

Worked with artists and musicians.
Shot weddings and portraits.
Also did more travel, documentary and outdoor-oriented work.

2010

Began teaching photography in addition to shooting

Wrote and hosted a DVD photography instruction series.
Began teaching photography classes to the general public.

2017

Hung up my camera and opened Story Forge Nashville

These permutations are briefly showcased below. All images are mine and I built all website portfolios with Wix through the years.

TOOLS

Gear:

CANON BODIES / LENSES

ON / OFF CAMERA STROBE

GRIP / ACCESSORIES

Social Media:

INSTAGRAM

FACEBOOK

Creative Software:

PHOTOSHOP

LIGHTROOM

I-MOVIE

FINAL CUT PRO

CAMTASIA

Productivity Software:

PAGES

NUMBERS

GOOGLE SUITE

Web Development/Design:

WIX

Gallery Platform:

PASS +

Payment Processing:

STRIPE

SQUARE

Scheduling & Booking:

ACUITY SCHEDULING

File Transfer:

WE TRANSFER

SILVER HILL IMAGES PHOTOGRAPHY

"I suppose the driving force in my journey has always been 'WHAT IF?' "

I've always been curious about many different things in life. Growing up, I had no idea what I wanted to be, but loved life. I loved being in school because of the various things we got to learn, and because of the social life.

I also loved not being in school, because of the time it gave me to roam the countryside, enjoying nature, the outdoors, and adventures with close friends.

I grew up reading tons, mostly fiction books, National Geographic, Reader's Digest, and encyclopedias.

I traveled with my family to various countries and learned Spanish. I loved foreign cultures and music.

I listened to my parents' vinyls from back in the day, and learned to play the piano and compose music.

In college, I was torn between music, foreign language and the arts. I ended up landing on photography, circling around to my National Geographic influence in younger years.

SILVER HILL IMAGES LINK

Silver Hill Images came out of all of those early influences and experiences. People told me I should specialize but in many ways, I've never gotten there.

Too much in life to stay in just one lane. Which is why I suppose I chose my own path and decided to work as a freelance artist, while working for and collaborating with many others along the way.

I suppose the driving force in my journey has always been "WHAT IF?" What if I tried a new thing? Explored a new country? Played a new instrument? Built a tree house? Took up painting?

Yes, for me, life has been, and still is

"What if?"

Which is why I'm doing portfolio this now...

Silver Hill Weddings

I've always loved the timeless imagery that comes from a wedding ceremony. The romance, the solemn vows, the joining of two lives in an unknown future awaiting discovery...

I added wedding shoots early in my career to satisfy that itch for flowing lines, textures, shapes, and colors, couched in a poignant, unfolding story.

I quit shooting them after I realized how much work they were and how rapid-fire of an event they are, with a thousand things happening at once: navigating client relationships in a highly emotional environment, dealing with rapidly changing circumstances in equipment, lighting, weather, and personnel.

Long hours, tons of marketing, pre-planning, and post-production, and the constant fight to figure out creative ways of getting paid enough to keep the lights on.

SILVER HILL WEDDINGS LINK

I quickly realized that while I was mesmerized by the emotion and iconic imagery of a wedding ceremony, I was not cut out personally to enjoy the actual process of getting those images.

I turned my attention more toward travel and landscape photography and added a few magazine awards and out-of-country visits to my portfolio.

Silver Hill Travel

I've discovered that travel and landscape photography suit my personality well. They are slow moving, requiring lots of quiet observation, patience, and quick reflexes when the moment strikes.

"Bare reality is never attainable with any image. It is always an interpretation of that moment in time..."

I enjoyed star-gazing and fishing for the same reasons. Sitting still, engaged in constant analysis of the world in front of you, while also listening to the intuition within.

SILVER HILL TRAVEL LINK

And I loved the creative process of making these images, because as with all good imagery, there is a strong interpretative element. Bare reality is never attainable with any image. It is always an interpretation of that moment in time, imbued with the sensibilities of the image maker.

The process itself gives the image its special sense of unique mystery and beauty, different from all other images of a similar place and time.

SILVER HILL PHOTO INSTRUCTION

IN 2010, I wrote and hosted a DVD photography series sold world wide, produced by Legacy Learning Systems called Learn and Master Photography.

It brought me back around to my first years of teaching art and music in secondary public schools, and later, English as a Second Language overseas in the Gobi desert of Mongolia.

I put the skills I had learned in instructional design to good use in that series, and began to teach my own photography classes and workshops to the general public.

I eventually taught thousands of students to see the world in a different way through these endeavors, and was privileged to help many of them develop a passion for and start new careers in photography.

SILVER HILL PHOTOGRAPHY INSTRUCTION LINK

I taught all the way through my years at Story Forge and count these encounters as some of my best years in photography. Some of my former students I still have as friends today.

VP WALLACE FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Throughout my photography career I would on occasion shoot what I considered to be more fine art oriented images. That is, images, made more for their pure aesthetic and interpretive qualities, rather than primarily for a functional commercial goal.

I won a couple of art awards and particpated in several shows and exhibits over the years in various national locales.

I have not begun to scratch the surface of this deep well of ideas, and am sure I will continue this endeavor in spite of and perhaps in place of, at some point, any other pursuit that makes me a living.

VP WALLACE ART LINK

I have come to realize that I am first and always an artist - that whatever the tools, I will find ways to express the juncture of who I am connected to the world around me in an intuitive, prophetic voice that calls both myself and others to sit and reflect, if only a moment, on all that is, through color, texture, line, shape and form...