What’s the most unusual thing that’s happened to you during a wedding?

A groom surprised me on the wedding day with a request to recreate JFK’s assassination since we were taking pictures near the grassy knoll in Dallas. The next thing I knew, he was handing out guns and blood-spattered shirts to all of his groomsmen. Yeah…that was unforgettable for sure.

Which artists inspire your work?

I like how Joseph Beuys didn’t silo or differentiate between his art and his life, how he worked in varying mediums for the sole apparent purpose of what represented the best form of expression.

Francis Bacon first opened my eyes to consider subjects that might not always be happy-go-lucky and to not approach them negatively but to see and understand the beauty that exists even in the midst of something horrific or tragic. I learned how to become comfortable standing in the presence of something that arrests or confronts us.

As the leader of the Pixies, musically, Frank Black popularized the notion of “loud, quiet, loud” during my formative years. The more I learn about what goes into a compelling photograph, the more acutely aware I am of the importance of stillness as a counterpoint to the elements within the frame clamoring for our attention.

Cy Twombly is the one who made me realize it’s okay to be different than my father, who is a natural artist, whereas I’m more of a learned artist. Once I discovered that drawing is a system of mark-making, then it didn’t matter if mine was realistic or as aesthetically pleasing as his.

You and your father create work together—what’s that dynamic like?

It’s a cross between iron sharpening iron with a desire to bring out the best in each other, like a married couple who has learned that they can’t change their partner and should instead focus on improving themselves. It’s also a father and son who sentimentally get to make some special memories together and determine how we best support each other.

How did you fall into the genre of conceptual portrait photography?

Due to both internal and external life events, there came a desire to make photos versus take photos, if that makes sense. We believe that some stories are worth telling, and the conceptual portraits that we create are the stories we want to share with others. They represent where we are at a particular moment in time in our lives.

What is your earliest memory?

I can remember the feeling of being in my crib, but that seems very vague. The one that stands out is learning how to skip. There was something so invigorating and joyful about learning how to change your gait. I’m sure I drove my mother nuts. I’d practice my newly discovered skill for hours across our living room!

What is the best thing and the worst thing about living in Dallas?

The best thing is that it’s home and where I grew up. No matter where I travel in the world or am living, I’ve known that a trip down memory lane is only a flight or car ride away—the park by my childhood home, my grandmother’s house and its enormous backyard, or White Rock Lake, where I used to ride my bike or horse around.

That said, like most any place in the world, it’s easy to let yourself get sucked into a bubble if you are surrounded only by other people who tend to see, think and live the same way. That’s why I’m grateful for the life I’ve been fortunate enough to live and the places I’ve gone in the world. And I think the key is to be proactive in seeking out new experiences, relationships and thoughts. I’m a firm believer that a non-curious mind discovers nothing.

How do you get your ideas for your portrait concepts?

All my life, my father has encouraged me to participate in the world actively, to get out there and see. That’s usually the genesis of where our subconscious starts to latch onto something. From there, it’s a matter of finding a connecting point. I recently started doing a series on clowns from around the period of 1885 to 1915, which came about because I love to take my 4-year-old daughter out for Saturday morning adventures. That’s where we met a very talented husband and wife duo known as Slappy and Monday, and a conversation with them led to discovering more about their world.

Do you still get nervous before speaking at a conference?

I don’t think I get nervous because I take the preparation part seriously. But one thing I’m driven by is the desire not to feel like I need to apologize to an audience because I’m unprepared. The more I learn, the less I feel like I know, so rather than present certain things as fact (that may be more subjective than objective), I share my own or other people’s musings on a subject and why the audience might want to consider them for themselves.

Any photographic regrets?

I love shooting black and white in-camera, but I lament the days where I did that only as JPEG versus RAW.

What’s for dinner?

If I’m lucky, some ribs made on our Pit Barrel cooker, covered in some Texas Pecan or SuckleBusters Hog Waller BBQ Rub and finished with some Rufus Teague Honey Sweet BBQ sauce. Mmmm mmmm good!

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