I picked up a camera for the first time as a freshman in high school, learning to shoot on film and develop my own prints in a darkroom. That hands-on, patient way of making an image has stuck with me ever since, even through the years I drifted in and out of photography as life got in the way.

In 2017, an injury changed a lot about what my life looked like, including photography. I had to sell my camera just to help cover the bills. It took until 2025 to hold one again. That year, a friend from the BookTok community quietly organized a surprise: a group of people I'd met through books and podcasting pooled together to help me buy a new camera for my birthday. I've been shooting steadily ever since.

Alongside photography, I host Books & Beyond with ThatGuyJae, a podcast that's become my way of meeting other creatives and exploring my own curiosity through theirs. A way of staying connected to passion and possibility in a life that looks very different than it did before my injury.

This site is where all of that lives: the photography, the podcast, and whatever else I end up making along the way.