THE BACKGROUND
My mom used to say car rides with me were the quiet ones. As a kid I'd look out the window and then be recount the smallest details in everything. I was typically more fascinated with how things looked than anything else. I'd often look at a car or a landscape or an outfit and re-create it in my mind, that is until I eventually started doing it for real. Whether it was painting skateboard decks, taking apart my bmx bike, drawing on tennis shoes or cutting up clothing, I'd always tweak things as soon as I got them… and if you know me, you know that’s something I still do from time to time. However, I think my first creative inspirations came from painting and sketching. My parents had me in classes at a young age, plus I took art every year in school so it was always around. It was an escape for me too, and no one could take that pencil from my hand. I knew the creative gene ran pretty deep in my family, too because, well, I had living proof all around me. My grandmother was an incredibly gifted painter and my mom a graphic designer. For years I thought we were the only ones until I watched other members of my family become artists of their own. Now I can look around knowing that I have a group of people, including my lovely wife, who enjoy painting, pottery, digital design, photography, fashion, music, filmmaking and much more.
I have so much gratitude in my life. I'm the second oldest of 5 kids and very thankful to have grown up in a home with parents who loved the Lord and truly wanted the best for us, while at the same time, taught us to be men of and women of character. My dad, especially, wanted us to challenge ourselves so he'd often take us to work with him and like the rest of my family, I basically played sports year-round. My dad started a concrete construction company when I was young, and would often bring my older brother and I out to his job sites. Through middle and high school, athletics became much more serious and occupied most of our time, so much that my brothers and I, and my sister, all went on to earn scholarships to compete at the college level. However, even in the heat of training, working or studying, art was something I could always come back to. I don’t know what it was, I just felt that whenever I was creating (or re-creating) something there were no boundaries, no one could tell me how to do it and I really felt like I could express the things I cherished in a creative way.
When I was 10 years old, I started playing around with an old video camera my parents used to film birthdays and sporting events and whatever else. I was fascinated not just by the camera itself but by what we could create with it, the entire process. I remember everything from ramps in the driveway, to re-creating action movie sequences with my brothers, to filming and editing classmate’s projects in high school. I even made some headway when I started making my own projects in college, first just with an iPhone and then with a GoPro I was given one year. I even had a few people ask me to shoot for their personal brands. I always enjoyed doing these types of projects because it gave me a chance to grow and exercise the craft, but I soon started to wonder how far it would take me. I mean would this be something I could actually make a career out of, or something I just kept in the background?
MY WORLD
My wife and I started dating just before my senior year of high school. I actually look back and laugh about how long it took us to start... I mean, we had known each other for a long time, and had been attending the same small private school in McKinney, Texas since around 5th or 6th grade, but didn't really hang out until high school. Before we started dating we'd see each other in passing or at practice. I played football, wrestled and ran track while she was a year-round select soccer player who also played varsity basketball and then ran track with me in the spring. Though we shared these interests, that's not what ultimately drew me to her. It was the fact that she loved Jesus and was probably the most kind-hearted person and I'd ever met. Julie was everything. She ended up staying in Texas to attend Baylor University and I chose to attend the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, each of us on athletic scholarships. Different schools, different states... didn't matter, we were in it together. She was my rock, and she and I continued dating through the college years without any thought of separating.
The Naval Academy is unlike any experience you could think of, especially if you walk in having absolutely no understanding of a military environment. That was me. Let's be real, how did a Texas boy who wanted to study art in college and had less than 40 students in his high school class find himself at this 'prestigious' service academy? Initially, I had no interest in that sort of thing. Before they offered me a scholarship I even remember telling my family that there was no way I could both play varsity football and maintain the academic workload. I knew nothing about schools that focused on armed forces training or ships or jets and furthermore, had nothing to do with art. But hey, what was I worried about? I could adapt. I could march around and wear a uniform and get screamed at and whatever else they do there. Play the game, right? Plus, I was a recruited athlete. Practices, meetings, weights, whistles, turf, sweat, cleats, locker rooms, nutrition, the daily grind and all that, yeah, that was my world. Welcome.
Though the service academy route seemed ludicrous at first, my older brother, Christian really opened my mind to the idea. Christian attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and commissioned as an Infantry Officer in the Army. He was the one who pretty much looked at me and said, "Hey dude, you have an opportunity that less than 1% of the American population will ever have. Take it." Today I can look back knowing it was one of the greatest decisions of my life, but it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. Among the many other challenges of that first year, I suffered an injury that forced me to give up football. It was actually an injury I had dealt with off and on since my senior year of high school. I remember seeing those scans of the fractured bones in my foot, and the doctor telling me I'd essentially have to leave this dream behind or else risk my commission into the Navy. That was a shot in the heart. I thought about the thousands upon thousands of hours invested into this, the ones who trained with me, the ones who carried me, my family, Julie and everything else. I was 20 years old, and that world I had built was turning upside down... but only for a moment. I know I'm not the only one who knows what it feels like to really bleed for something, and I'm no stranger to the feeling of loss, but I can look back on that painful moment knowing God was in control. I think that was the moment I learned a little bit about what it feels like to die to yourself. I had to let go of that self-righteous, haughty image of myself. Let go of my plan. Let go of my control.
Just to be clear, in no way do I denounce those types of athletic passions, goals or interests. I don't look back on what I went through with any sort of resentment or remorse, but instead with complete gratitude. Every minute I've spent on a field or a mat or a track or in a gym or locker room or at a doctors office, I'm thankful for. How could I not be? God provided for me again and again. My recovery was solid, and though football was over, I was able to spend the next 3 years competing for the Naval Academy wrestling team as a walk-on... into the fray once again. I will always cherish that experience, and even moreso the relationships, but the most important thing I learned in that humbling 3-year stretch was that it's not about me. None of this is. My identity can’t be found in any of those things, but in Christ alone. I’m a beloved son of the most high king.
WHILE WE’RE WAITING
The endless summer commenced when I married Julie. We were in Annapolis, MD and it was the day after graduation. She had recently been drafted to play professional soccer for Sky Blue, now Gotham FC, out of New Jersey and I had just commissioned into the Navy as an officer. Naturally, I chose the closest Naval Station available... Norfolk, VA. The college days were over and I was now expected be to learn how to lead sailors and navigate warships at sea. However, my training wouldn't begin until around 6 months post-graduation. In result, the Navy stashed me at the Naval Academy to coach PE classes and assist with basic training for inbound students. So yeah, the rest of 2019 was pretty much spent between Annapolis and central New Jersey, an adventure to say the least. There were no more scheduled practices or bus rides or weigh-ins. No more class lectures or calculus tutoring. If I wasn't working, I could now be up in New Jersey with my wife. I'm very thankful when I look back on that season. More importantly, I had finally married the love of my life. I also had more time for some of those old interests, as my college experience wasn't exactly conducive to filmmaking or photography or things of that nature. I bought my first camera that summer after graduation, and it's been around the block with me a few times since then. I remember telling Julie the year before that this was something I really wanted to pursue, and perhaps make a career out of. I just didn't know what it would look like, as I still had years of military service ahead of me.
Destroyer / Carrier Risen
TITLE…
I'm not that jock, not that image..
I have my scars.
Our calling remains the same: to love God and enjoy Him forever… and it is by His grace that we know Him and are invited to join Him in the work He’s doing in, around and through us. What a joy it is to use the passions threaded in our hearts to tell others about Him. This company is just one way we believe we can do that. 