Hello…

Long before I ever picked up a camera, I was a curious wanderer, always preferring to be outdoors and away from the chaos inside. Looking back, I realize those early adventures sparked something that has stayed with me ever since—a love of exploring and a quiet curiosity about the places we often overlook.

Photography came later in life, but it gave that deep-rooted wandering a new purpose. It gave me permission to linger and to notice the quiet charm woven throughout places I had known all along but never fully appreciated. I found myself drawn to weathered barns, winding backroads, and the rural landscapes that speak softly of history, resilience, and home.

The more I explored, the more I realized these photographs were about more than preserving Iowa's landscapes—they were changing the way I experienced them. Photography became an invitation to notice what I had once overlooked and to discover that extraordinary moments are often hidden in the most familiar places.

That journey eventually led me to Iowa's99, an ongoing project to photograph a piece of every county in Iowa. Today my travels have expanded to prairies, wetlands, forests, and conservation areas across the state, but my hope is not simply to show people where to go. It's to help people see the places around them differently—to slow down, look again, and discover that the extraordinary is often hidden in plain sight.