2019 was a very interesting year. It had its ups and downs, but we made it through. This project was shot in 2019, at a very tumultuous time in my life. Me and the people around me were going through a lot and this project really provided me a lot of therapy, and I pray that it was therapeutic for the people involved as well. I featured my wife, Ashleigh and my brother from another, Brandon, whom were both in different stages of dealing with anxiety at the time. My wife and I had just moved back to my hometown from Dallas Texas, where we’d been for the last three years. We had grown a lot in Dallas, got engaged in Dallas, and really grew to love it as a home, but circumstances and the will of God brought us back to the Eastside of Atlanta and back around our families. It was a stressful year for a lot of reasons, and it started to really beat us down mentally. Although we had just gotten married, everything that we had built before seemed gone and it felt like we were starting over from square one again. 

Through these tough times, I tried to find ways to cope with what we were going through, knowing that things would improve but still grueling, feeling the pain of the present time. I picked my camera back up and decided to channel my energy by learning some new skills and capturing some new stories. I always loved to be able to tell a story through a picture. I feel like that’s the essence of photography. Ash bought me this camera for Christmas one year, and I told her she wouldn’t regret it. I told her when I asked for it, that I would put it to good use and possibly one day make a living with it. So, I got back to shooting, leaving work every day and taking photos until Ashleigh would get off work. This was a free time for me where I could take an hour or two and think about nothing that was going on, except for what was in front of me. And Ash usually loved all my pictures, and when she didn’t, she let me know. She’s a very honest critic and I love that about her. As I kept doing this, I really started to feel better, having the free time to decompress and not worry about my struggles, but just focus on the beauty of life. I try to take photos from unique perspectives, but I think taking photos really helped change my perspective on life. 

So, one day when I was off work, I asked Ash to come to the studio and be my muse. I thought that being in front of the camera and making her feel beautiful and seen would improve her mood at least. We went to Cam Kirk Studios, for a free hour of studio time, I paid for lights, and I shot my first studio photography. I had never used studio lighting before, but they were helpful and I figured it out pretty well. This one hour was like those many hours I had after work, but better. Because the love of my life was there and even though there were other people in the studio, when I shot her it was just a moment between the two of us, where she inspired me, and hopefully she was able to relax and have some peace. I think her eyes really tell most of the story in my shoot with her, because I wanted her to look through me and show me how she felt. It was powerful to see, and I pretty much cry every time I look through the catalog of that shoot. But it was a beautiful moment for me and inspired me to continue shooting and continue documenting stories, because all of those little moments mean something.

2019 was a crazy year for us, relocating, getting married, dealing with anxiety and not being sure how to cope with the way our lives had changed so swiftly. And people always tell you the first year of marriage is the hardest. Well, our first year proved this, but in ways that I didn’t even see coming. So to be able to have this moment with my wife was beautiful and therapeutic. We were both broken down, feeling the ills of life, but able to be vulnerable with one another, and help each other cope with what we were dealing with. I will always appreciate Ashleigh for supporting my dreams and for allowing me to have her as an inspiration for the work that I do. 

I also appreciate my brother, Brandon, for being open to shooting these photos when he was dealing with a similar journey. When Ash was going through the worst of her anxiety, Brandon was there to let her know that she was not alone, and that someone else had been through a situation almost identical to hers. For us three to be able to bond and have an understanding about life and be able to lean on one another is one of the main reasons I think it’s important to build and cultivate healthy relationships and friendships. 

At the end of the day, the people you choose to keep in your corner will be the ones who step up and brush you off and send you back out into the ring to fight again. They’ll always be there through the good and the bad, you supporting them, and them supporting you. This collection is called Faces of a Fighter, because I was going through a lot in 2019, but I saw the people around me doing the same, fighting whatever was holding them back and rising to the occasion to help me through my journey as well. 

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