About
Writer, Filmmaker, Photographer, Artiste, & Social Nexus

Biography
At VCU, I initially pursued Psychology and Photography/Film; however, after a Pre-AFO studio course, I decided the Photo/Film program wasn't my cup of expression, and decided to study Philosophy/Religious Studies/Creative Writing instead. In my Junior year, I started the documentary, Identity: Richmond (http://www.identityrichmond.com/), and at the same time, VCU created the Cinema program (I wanted to learn how to be a director, instead of honing my editorial skills whilst learning how to turn low-budget, experimental films into art flicks). I applied, but they told me to go to grad school (palm-face, finger-flick).

The following year, I would begin working with Circuit City, and if they hadn't gone under, I would have joined their corporate team before I even graduated from college. Instead, they went under, I went to Best Buy, and then a few months later, I was called up by RVA Magazine - they needed an Executive Producer.

I took the gig with RVA Magazine, wrote for several issues of the magazine, organized a video crew that was putting up 2 videos a week, while simultaneously developing several shows that may end up on national TV in the future...

My tenure with RVA TV came to an end with a disagreement on font choice (I can't make this shit up). It even caused a little local stir when I announced what had transpired on Facebook - social media is weird sometimes.

Around the same time, I picked up a Canon 7-D and began dabbling in photography. In the spring of 2010, a dance party (RVAlution) would start up and change the entire scene in Richmond. Then it spread to Raleigh, NC, and we knew there was something incredible happening. I covered these events, mostly as a means to learn DSLR photography/filmmaking, eventually settling on a high-flash, long-exposure style that would eventually be called "a Headlee" by some of the other local photographers.

In reality, it's a style that's been around far longer than I've been taking pictures - just the combination of Social Media and a coinable last name happened to work in my favor. To be fair, I was inspired by the artistic journeys another Richmond filmmaker, Todd Raviotta, an editor and teacher at VCU I initially sought to be our "faculty mentor" for the Identity: Richmond project.

To clarify, "A Headlee" can be one of two things: A) A high-flash, long-exposure shot (1/2 sec minimum) in which the photographer moves the camera to "paint" the frame with light from around the room/venue, or B) A sculpture of random objects placed in a high-volume traffic area of someone's house (yes, I make sculptures in people's homes with their own shit). It's better than breaking or taking shit(s) - unless it's art, then that's just expression.

Then 2011 happened.

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