The last few months have been a period of steady, deliberate progress in my photography — a stretch of experimentation, technical refinement, and developing a clearer creative identity. If you’ve been following along, here’s a quick look at what’s been happening behind the scenes.

Re-edit from a 2024 Puerta Vallarta visit focusing more on editing fundamentals.

Dialing In Technique and Workflow

I’ve spent a lot of time refining the fundamentals — everything from headshot consistency to studio control. Recent focus areas:

Mastering negative fill for clean, directional light
Experimenting with macro-style eye shots and controlled reflections
Improving flash/ambient balance using the Godox V1 + XProS setup
Selective blur and luminance-range work in Photoshop
Faster, more consistent exposure and white balance matching in Lightroom Classic

The goal has been simple: eliminate guesswork, build repeatable setups, and tighten my workflow so every step from shooting to delivery feels intentional. This is critical with work picking up…balancing a full time occupation with a side hustle is no joke - and that means that unneeded redundancy becomes a waste of time. Anywhere I can script an automation, have a prepackaged ‘look’ ready to go, or simply not forget the memory card in the computer is a welcome time saver.

This also means just organizing my space. As the brand grows, so does the specialized equipment inventory. And this stuff can’t live in a bag. So the need to have a clean and functional way to structure my gear at rest becomes its own game.

Taller, adjustable, shallow shelving allows me to see equipment regardless of the size or length and spread out a little.

Exploring Cinematic Color and Storytelling

Color grading has been a major thread. I’ve been leaning into techniques used by cinematic street photographers — working with micro-contrast, refining skin tones, adding depth through targeted masking, and developing a consistent aesthetic that still leaves room for experimentation.

My editing has gotten cleaner, more controlled, and more aligned with the emotional, story-driven style I’m aiming for.

Low-light in Chicago

A scene from a grounding street session this Fall in the Windy City. Night photography with a fast lens and no tripod becomes its own challenge in sharpness. How do you achieve a crisp look when conditions aren’t ideal? Post.

Drone Work and Motion

The drone has become a bigger part of my kit. Some low-altitude corporate work and high angle photography have been taking a lot of attention. It will never be a stand-alone or solid replacement for the story a handheld camera can tell - but with cinematic storytelling, it adds the content needed to stitch a tale together.

Branding, Identity, and Presentation

A significant amount of energy has gone into the business side: refining my logo concepts, tightening up the luxury-forward aesthetic, updating the Squarespace member area, and shaping a visual identity that feels more polished and consistent. Oh, and invoicing! Never thought I would be doing that…

I’m treating the brand with the same intentionality as the images — clean, minimal, and purposeful.

Community Work & Mini Sessions

Proxy to a partner that drives a non-profit means that I donate A LOT of time to that group. Not that I wouldn’t do it without her help, it just makes it a lot easier to do so.

So rewarding and always a win-win.

What’s Been Filling the Grid

Across Instagram and the site, you’ve probably seen:

Long-exposure work
Local Hudson River scenes
Studio experiments/Learning to control light to perpetuate the story
Street and candid storytelling
Variations and iterative edits as I refine my style

It’s been a stretch of exploring, learning, and pushing myself into more intentional choices — technically, fundamentally and creatively.

This is what gaining 1,000 feet in elevation in 30 minutes will get ya!

Looking Ahead

The next few months will continue in that direction: more structured experimentation, more refined workflows, more cohesive branding, and more storytelling-driven images across both stills and motion. Especially with winter setting in - it will be a banger sunrise, fresh sticky snow or ice, or a crisp clear starry night to get the gear (and me) outside - and natural shift in focus away from the landscapes occurs.

Thanks for following along — on social, on the blog, or wherever you’ve found The Contented Clicker Photography.

A Quick Catch-Up: Three Months of Growth Behind the Lens