I have put off trying to write this page for a long time because … well, because it is just so difficult. I mean, how does one define themselves? How do you explain your creations? How did you get to where you are when you did not know you were going there? Needless to say it has taken me longer to write this page than to complete the entire rest of this site.

My photography is my art and it is something I just do. I’m not sure I can always explain what I just did. I think I am like a lot of artists when I say that it just comes to me and then it is incredibly difficult for us to explain what we do. I “set up the stage” for a successful session and work really hard to get things flowing, but eventually I just get in a zone and the magic just starts to happen. To that end, my best art happens when I don’t think too hard about it and just let things flow. So sitting down and thinking hard about explaining what I do and who I am is counter intuitive to me. What I have learned though this exercise is that every day is a chance to learn something new about yourself and it is funny how you twist and turn through life to get somewhere you didn’t really know you were going, but how cool it is when you look back at the journey. Please take a look at who I am and my journey to get here…

Who I am:

I am a visual artist who paints portraits of people with light using my cameras to record these fleeting moments of light and time. My style has developed into my own unique brand of portraiture that uses light define and sculpt the subject in a modern and edgy way and bring them to life such that they are vibrant and energetic with lots of depth and emotion.

My approach to creating my portraiture is as much a part of my art as the style I portray. I truly love what I do and am always full of energy at sessions and my enthusiasm carries over to the subjects. I will joke around with you and just be your friend for the entire day so we can have fun taking pictures. I get so excited creating great images that I just work tirelessly to create more for the subject. I am always going the extra mile to do whatever it takes to create something unique for each session. And because of this, I get just as many compliments on my fun but professional approach and attitude as I do the images.

So how did I become a fun and adventurous portrait photographer when I started out my career as a mechanical engineer? It baffled me for a while too. Read on if you would like…

My history with art and photography goes way back and each of the mediums gradually developed throughout my life, but it was not until much later in my life that I was actually able to combine the two into my art form. And it all happened because of the destruction of a camera. Let’s start with a little history.

It starts with art. I have loved art of all forms since very early in my childhood and I have taken all kinds of art classes from elementary school through college. Deep down inside I always wanted to be an artist, but the issue I always had, no matter which medium I was studying, was I did not have the physical talent to make my hands create the vision I had in my head. Sometimes I could come close, but it never really matched my visions. What I realize now is I do have the physical talent; I just had not yet found my medium in all those classes.

I get my love of photography from my mom, and I have to thank her for my start, even though I did not realize this as the beginning until recently. She was always taking pictures of us as kids and at some point during my early teenage years I began to borrow the camera for my own use. But I was basically just a snap shooter documenting the memories of my life and my friends and not using it to create art.

Fast forward 10 years to 1997. I had just graduated from the University of Iowa with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering (uh, yeah, a little bit different than art, I know, but I happen to be good at science and math also, how crazy is that?). So I was given a Caribbean cruise as a college graduation present and borrowed my sister in law’s camera to take with me just to document the trip. But somewhere along the beautiful miles of ocean, sun and sand, I subconsciously began to create art with the camera, rather than just documenting the trip. I didn’t think about what I was doing, I just did it. I found myself taking more scenic landscapes, sunsets and underwater snorkeling images than I did documents, but I did not really realize what I had done or that I had created art and found my artistic medium. I just put all the images into a nice album for memories sake and got on with starting my career and living life. But looking back this is the first time I created art with a camera. And yes, I still look at that album.

Fast forward a couple more years to 2000. I am now married and have a son and have been taking fun pictures of him growing up. My wife and I take a trip to Door County, WI to tour lighthouses, as I’m a lighthouse buff. I want to take pictures of all of them and in the process of quickly stopping at one of them our tiny little film camera gets thrown out of the car and takes a tumble across the parking lot and squished like a bug under a passing car. Well, I was not going home without pictures so it was Wal-Mart to the rescue, and it is really weird to say, but Wal-Mart helped to elevate my photography to the next level. They provided me with the first SLR camera I ever owned that day. The rest of the trip was a huge revelation for me. I can actually remember standing at one of the lighthouses composing my shot and feeling so awesome that I was an “artist” because I had a “real camera” in my hands. Again, I did not really realize what was happening, but this was the tool I needed to create my artistic visions. Or so I thought. My photography education grew so fast that weekend that I returned the camera as I already needed a better tool.

This time it was my wonderful wife Stephanie to the rescue. Before we had met she had been a Videographer for Combat Camera in the US Air Force. She traveled the world video taping wars and other events for a living and worked side by side with the Combat Camera photographers. How cool is that!! I’m still jealous of her. She provided me with my first all manual SLR; the one she carried with her all over the world and was stored in our basement of all places!! That camera allowed me to see the world in a whole new light. But more importantly, Stephanie also taught me her knowledge of composition and story telling and instilled confidence in me that I had talent. She found lectures for us to go to and classes for us to attend. Over the next few years I consumed every bit of photography knowledge I could from every source I could find. I was growing by leaps and bounds every day and was beginning to realize I could create my artistic visions with photography as my medium. And I was having so much fun!!!! I must say this; without Stephanie to get me started and support me everyday since then, I would not be writing this for all of you. To this day she is the unsung hero of Hall’s Photography. She is my sounding board, my communications and marketing expert, my lovely assistant, and the toughest critic I will ever meet. Thank you so much honey!!

It was during the first assignment of the first class we attended that I had my first Ah-ha moment and really felt I had an eye for photography and could create art with the camera. There was one image on my contact sheet (this was back in the film days) that just stood out even in the small size. Everyone else in the class saw it too and asked me how I created it. I could not answer them; I just saw it in my head and did it. It was here that I learned to do whatever it takes to get in position to get the shot. In this case I had climbed to the top of a fence with spikes on top and balanced no-handed while I composed the shot. No big deal I thought, but no one else said they would have done that. To this day I am climbing over or under or into whatever to get the shot. It is part of my style to use my physical abilities to find a unique position to take the best shot.

Over the next couple of years, I have my son (3 — 5 at the time) to thank for my next huge leap. He was my model and I practiced every thing I read on him. It was with him I learned I could create artistic portraits with the camera. Fast forward another year to 2003 and our son is playing t-ball and I just bought my first digital SLR. To practice with it, I take hundreds of images of him at each game (from all over the diamond of course). I’m so excited about the art I’m creating of my son that I start to show the other parents. The images are a huge hit and next thing I know I’m taking hundreds of pictures of every kid on the team at every game and sharing with the parents. At the end of the season I’m asked to take the team pictures for his team and Hall’s Photography is born. Since my humble beginnings as a sports photographer, I have grown to specialize in weddings, seniors, children and family portraits. This is where I can truly create art with my cameras and lights.

Since I turned pro I have continued to develop and refine my art with every session. I still take classes and attend seminars and study the top artists and photographer to see what I can learn. Today I have created a style that is uniquely my own and the elements of it involve more than photography or artistic techniques. My style is modern, edgy and full of life. It has layers of depth to the images and energetic compositions. My approach is very friendly and relaxing yet full of life and energy. I believe in being your friend and working my tail off to create something unique for each client. And having a blast along the way!

And that is my twisted journey to becoming a visual artist. Thanks for listening…

- Eric