About

About the Blog

I started this blog as a means of sharing my work with my family and friends. Many of the images contained herein feature nature or still life scenes, since I began this journey as a nature and fine art photographer. Times change and time changes us, though, and I’m finding more faces in my work than ever before.

So, Why FourteenBlack?

FourteenBlack is the moniker I’ve used for my photography (and graphic design) for nearly a decade. I’d say its origins make for a funny story, but truth be told, I’m not entirely sure how I came up with it. In college, one of my professors required I decide upon a “business name.” I was listening to a lot of Peter Gabriel at the time, so perhaps it was borne of that, or perhaps it’s more related to the rule of 18% gray in photography. Either way, it was catchy, people liked it, and it stuck.

Behind the Lens

My love affair with photography began the first time I felt the weight of my father’s Minolta Maxxum 7000 in my hands. When I heard the shutter click and the film wind, I was hooked. I spent several family vacations begging for an opportunity to use that camera, but it wasn’t until after I crawled out onto a rock in the middle of a stream in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that he decided to give it to me. I was a teenager then, about seventeen, and I used that camera until I graduated with my Associate’s degree in Visual Communications in 2002. Maybe a few years after that, too.

I didn’t make the leap to digital photography until 2008, when I was coming off a few years’ hiatus from shooting. After several weeks of reading and window shopping, and finally settling on a Canon 30D, I made a spur of the moment decision to buy a Nikon D90. So far, I’ve been pretty happy with it and with the ease of digital shooting, though some part of me still cherishes film.

I adore natural light and a shallow depth of field, getting in close to catch all of the details. I combine these elements with more than a decade’s worth of knowledge and experience to capture the spark, the little flare of life that moves people when they look at my images, that makes them not want to look away.

I tend to shoot what I love, so my personal collection is filled with an eclectic mix of flora, fauna, faces, and fingamajigs. (Okay, I made that last word up, but admit it:  it fits.)

In addition to shooting, I spend much of my time writing fiction or reading it.

So, Can I Hire You?

Absolutely! I’d love the chance to take pictures of the people and things you love. I’m available for informal portraits, pet portraits, small-scale commercial photography, food styling, and event photography up to 25 miles from Nashville, Tennessee, USA.

If you’d like to discuss a potential project, please e-mail me at: fourteenblack goobleygook at gmail goobleygook dot com.