A man sitting on a wooden bench with a dark cloudy sky background, wearing a black hat and an orange sweater. His face and body are covered with torn magazine collage cutouts, including parts of his face, mouth, and hand, creating a surreal, artistic portrait.

Let Me Tell You a Story…

Hi!

I’m a photographer and lifelong storyteller shaped by a creative family, a cross-country imagination, and a camera that never leaves my side. My story begins in fifth grade when my sister dragged me to an audition for a local community theater production that I had zero interest in. Long story short, I scored a role and my sister did not. What’s a guy to do?

Around the same time, I saw Annie Leibovitz’s portrait of Keith Haring, and something inside me lit up. Suddenly, a camera wasn’t just an object, it was a portal. My passion for photography was sparked, and as an avid people watcher and daydreamer, I became fascinated with capturing rich moments that feel like movie stills. Over the years, I worked on both sides of the camera in film and television, chasing the dream of becoming an Oscar-winning actor (something I still haven’t ruled out). But nothing captured my imagination the way photography did. It became the obsession I didn’t know I’d been waiting for.

Today, I specialize in fine-art photography, portraiture and visual storytelling that blends character, mood, and narrative tension. As a location independent, I’m always ready for a new landscape, a new face, or a new adventure to photograph. Whether I’m creating on the road or close to home, my goal is always the same: to make images that feel alive, personal, and deeply human.

PS - I like pizza.

A person wearing a black hat with cloud patterns, with only their eyes and nose visible, wearing multiple silver necklaces, standing under a cloudy sky.
A man in a suit stands at a crosswalk on a city street, with trees, cars, and modern buildings in the background, visible in black and white.

Artist Statement

Austin's work fuses a passion for cinematic framing and composition with the beauty of everyday life, crafting photographs that evoke the essence of movie stills. Rooted in a lifelong love of cinema, popular culture, and a flair for theatrics, Austin's imagery captures the fleeting drama of overlooked moments and the unseen narratives unfolding around us. ​

Primarily a solitary pursuit, Austin's process involves wandering through streets and neighborhoods searching for compelling compositions, cinematic lighting, and interesting subjects. Each photograph emerges as a carefully crafted blend of planning, patience, and post-production magic, transforming ordinary subjects into visual stories imbued with the grandeur of the silver screen. ​

Central to Austin's vision is a blend of Wabi-Sabi and Sonder philosophies that shape how he sees and captures the world. Inspired by Wabi-Sabi's celebration of imperfection and impermanence, Austin finds beauty in everyday life's raw, weathered, and transient details: cracked pavement, fading light, and the quiet poetry of decay. At the same time, Sonder informs his sensitivity to the hidden stories within these moments such as the realization that every person and place carries a universe of unseen experiences. Together, these ideas guide Austin to reframe the ordinary as cinematic, transforming fleeting scenes into rich, layered narratives that invite reflection and connection. ​

By weaving these philosophies together, Austin's work becomes a meditation on life's quiet drama, the impermanence of beauty, the authenticity of imperfection, and the depth of the human experience. With every image, Austin invites viewers to pause, look closer, and embrace the complexity and interconnectedness of the world around them.