New Beginnings. New Adventures.
The Next Chapter: Teaching, Printing, and Sharing Stories
For a long time, I’ve wrestled with some big questions about my place in the photography industry. What do I want to point my lens at? Who, ultimately, benefits from my work? Where do I want my work to live? And the one that perhaps challenged me the most: How accessible—or attainable—can I make my work?
These questions didn’t have immediate answers. They took time, reflection, and a lot of trial and error. I shot commercially for years, working on everything from architectural photography to live events. It was good work, and it paid the bills, but something always felt incomplete. I wasn’t sure who my work was really for, beyond my clients. I wasn’t sure if it was making any kind of meaningful impact, beyond fulfilling a brief.
After sitting with these questions for a while, I started to realize that what really drives me isn’t just the act of making images—it’s sharing them. It’s the connection that happens when you share a photograph and a story with someone, and they see something they’ve never noticed before—or feel something they didn’t expect. That kind of human interaction is what continues to fuel me. It’s what inspired me to pick up a camera in the first place. It’s what keeps me motivated to find, see, and learn about new places through photography.
With all of that in mind, I’ve decided it’s time to branch out. I don’t want to limit myself to offering photography services or shooting commercially anymore. I want to teach. I want to help people learn to do what I do—to use a camera as a tool for observing their lives, paying attention to what they see, and finding meaning in what they choose to photograph.
I believe that photography, when practiced intentionally, can be a way of immersing yourself more deeply in life—rather than separating yourself from it by viewing the world through a screen. That’s the kind of photography I want to teach.
Beyond teaching, I also want to help other photographers bring their work to life in print. There’s something special about seeing your work in physical form—the texture, the depth, the feel of a well-made print. I want to help others achieve a level of quality in their prints that perhaps they’ve never experienced before, or never thought possible.
And, perhaps most importantly, I want to keep talking about photography. It’s more than just an art form. Because it depends so directly on the real world—on what’s in front of you—it can serve as a way to engage more deeply with existence. It can help us slow down, pay attention, and connect with the present moment in a way that few other mediums can.
This feels like the right path forward for me. It’s a direction that excites me, challenges me, and, most importantly, feels true to who I am and why I picked up a camera in the first place.
If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading. I’m looking forward to what comes next, and I hope you’ll join me on this new part of the journey.
In gratitude,
-S. R.
For more information about me, what I do, what I hope to do, and to keep in touch, consider subscribing, and having a look around my portfolio site, and the Slievemore Editions website. Additionally, if you’re in the area, I’d be happy to see you at the Trenton Farmers Market. I’m at my both Thurs.-Sat. 9AM - 6PM, Sundays at 9AM-3PM. Come by and we’ll talk photography, look at some images, and you can get your portrait made. We’ll have a nice time.