So there I was…

There’s a little bit of Captain Nowhere inside all of us

That little voice coming from deep within your mind telling you to keep going, to see what might be around that next bend, to check out what it looks like from atop that next mountain, to send it way beyond your comfort zone and question your own mortality….. That’s the fire of Captain Nowhere burning inside you.

My Mission

To capture high quality photographs in order to share novel moments from my [otherwise selfish] pursuits of [sometimes risky] outdoor adventure, in an attempt to exhaust my passion and share the fire it lights inside me with anyone looking for inspiration, a nice view, or a good laugh.

My motivation to continue sharing these beautiful scenes stems from how much I have seen the mountain and desert environments change through both natural events and anthropocentric intervention, even in my short ~10 years of exploring them. Geological time is now, and in an ever-increasingly sporadic climate, you never know when these beautiful places may be altered or gone forever. My goal is to capture them in all their glory before this inevitable change occurs.

Join me, won’t you?

About “Me”

I grew up in the Land of Lincoln and cornfields otherwise known as Springfield, Illinois and spent much of my childhood going on adventures and camping with family and Boy Scouts. After attending Southern Illinois University in Carbondale to earn my Bachelors degree in Forest Recreation and Park Management, and a short 9 month apprenticeship working at an environmental education kids camp in Land Between the Lakes NRA, I immediately set my sights on the rockier and snowier pastures of the Colorado Mountains. Through sheer dumb luck of throwing metaphorical darts at the search engine dartboard of Google, I found myself accepting a job working for the Telluride Ski Resort’s winter kids camp before even checking where Telluride was on the map. It was the happiest uninformed decision I have made in life.

I immediately fell in love with the mountains and began spending every moment of free time I had exploring all the nooks and crannies that southwest Colorado has to offer. After multiple years of testing my boundaries and getting to know the San Juan Mountains, I met up with a new friend Austin Bennet (of Wander Yonder Photography) to continue pushing my limits on some of the gnarlier climbs the Colorado Rockies had to offer. We had this endless playground in our backyard and I always wished I could bring all my friends and family from back home out here with me to enjoy it.

If you spend enough time testing your boundaries in the outdoors, you begin question the inherent selfishness of these risky adventures.

Why do I do this?

Why do I keep moving the goalposts of my mental and physical comfort zone?

How can I possibly translate the lessons I learn and the raw feelings experienced on these burly adventures in a way that might positively affect those beside myself?

Am I trying to prove anything? Is there anything to actually be proved? Are my truths provable?

Is there such a thing as a professional hiker? . . .because if so that’s what I wanna be when I grow up

After hundreds of contemplative miles hiked, (and knowing I had a photography sensei as a climbing partner), I decided that I could go all-in on pursuing my long-time passion for photography as a means of sharing my experiences with more than just the few crazy enough to join me on a high emprise. With a proper camera and a little computer knowhow, I could capture these pure, unadulterated moments of wonder and translate my experience through them.

Upon being furloughed from my position of Summer Kids Camp Director during the first summer of COVID, it was time to finally invest in a professional camera and begin honing my skills to capture the beautiful nature I witness for those who may never have the opportunity to witness it themselves. I chose the moniker "Captain Nowhere" because, aside from being an awesome song about a sea captain who pushes stubbornly further into the unknown, I also feel the name reflects my intention to remove the ego from the art I share. I simply want to convey the ineffable feeling of human insignificance when gazing upon the incomprehensible combination of geological time, atmospheric phenomena, and evolution of life on this planet.

Nature deserves all the credit; I merely took a picture of it.