New work: generation radio album art Photoshoot
In early 2025, I was approached by Generation Radio to oversee the creative vision for their upcoming album release. It was the kind of call that immediately gets your attention, not just because of the project, but because of who was involved.
Generation Radio is made up of Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts, Jason Scheff from Chicago, Steve Ferrone of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, along with Chris Rodriguez and Tom Yankton. Every member brings a deep musical history and a distinct presence, which meant the visuals needed to feel intentional, confident, and true to who they are as a band.
They were looking for a complete refresh visually. That included new promotional photography, album artwork, and single cover art. All of it needed to feel cohesive and timeless while still feeling current. From the start, the goal was to create imagery that could live comfortably across press, streaming platforms, and physical releases without feeling disconnected or pieced together.
There was one major logistical challenge. The band couldn’t all be in the same place at the same time for a photo shoot. With everyone’s schedules and commitments, a single-day, all-hands session just wasn’t realistic.
Rather than letting that limit the creative, I designed the shoot around consistency. The lighting setups and backdrops were chosen specifically because they could be replicated precisely. Every technical detail was planned in advance so each session would match seamlessly. That way, even though the band members were photographed separately, the final images would feel unified.
We split the shoot into two production days, both photographed in Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville felt like the right place to do it. There’s a grounding energy to the city, especially when working with artists whose careers span decades of music history.
On set, the focus was on keeping things relaxed while maintaining visual consistency. The lighting and framing stayed locked in, but there was room for personality. Each member brought their own presence to the camera, and that individuality was important to preserve. The goal wasn’t to make them look identical, but to make them look like they belonged together.
We shot with versatility in mind, knowing the images would be used for multiple purposes. Some frames were clean and minimal to allow space for typography and design, while others leaned more into expression and attitude for promotional use.
When everything came together in post-production, the preparation paid off. The images blended naturally, allowing us to build group visuals, album art, and single covers that felt cohesive and intentional. Nothing felt forced or overly constructed, which was exactly the point.
This project was a great reminder that limitations don’t have to work against you. With the right planning and trust, they can actually sharpen the creative. Being trusted to help shape the visual identity for Generation Radio was an honor, and seeing the final images paired with the music made the process especially rewarding.
Sometimes everyone can’t be in the same room at the same time, but when the vision is clear, the final image can still bring the whole band together.
NEW OFFICE
This year, I moved into a new private office at Ampersand Studios, and it’s already become a space that feels deeply motivating and personal. There’s a creative energy in the building that’s hard to describe but easy to feel the moment you walk in, and being surrounded by other artists and makers has been a constant source of inspiration. One of the things I’ve enjoyed most is finally having a dedicated place to live with my work, not just store it on a hard drive or scroll past it on a screen. Over the last week, I’ve been carefully printing and framing a selection of photographs for the walls, taking the time to slow down and think about how each image fits into the space and represents different chapters of my work. Seeing the prints up, in a physical environment where clients and collaborators can experience them the way they’re meant to be seen, has been incredibly rewarding and has made the office feel fully my own.
10 year anniversary
2026 marks my tenth year as a full-time photographer, and it’s hard to wrap my head around how quickly the time has gone. The last decade has been a wild ride filled with long days, creative risks, missed sleep, unexpected opportunities, and more lessons than I could have planned for. While a lot of my work over the years has been widely seen, there’s also a large body of images that never really had their moment, quieter projects and personal frames that lived in archives or on hard drives. To mark this milestone, I wanted to pull some of that lesser-known work into the light and share pieces from the last ten years that helped shape how I see, shoot, and grow.
One of my first jobs was photographing the winners of the Belmont Artist Showcase. Every year Belmont University held a competition for their most talented music artists, and the winners received a free photoshoot. Here are some of the 2016 winners. I photographed these in Franklin, TN with a Canon 5D Mark 3.
