Creative direction, Atlanta

Creative direction is the layer above the camera. It's the work of deciding what the campaign looks like before anyone shows up to shoot it: the concept, the cast, the locations, the wardrobe palette, the props, the visual rules that separate a strong campaign from a generic one.

I take on creative direction for Atlanta brand campaigns when the project has more moving parts than a single shoot — usually a quarterly content cycle, a product launch, or an editorial issue with multiple stories. The deliverable isn't just images; it's a whole visual language the brand can use across channels for the next six to twelve months.

The work usually breaks into three phases. Phase one is concept: a couple of weeks of conversation, mood-boarding, and rough scripting until we agree on what the campaign is actually saying. Phase two is production: casting, location-scouting, wardrobe sourcing, scheduling. Phase three is shooting and post — usually two to four shoot days, then four to six weeks of post-production with the brand's team.

I work best with brands that have a clear point of view and want to articulate it more sharply, not brands that are trying to figure out what they stand for through a photo shoot. The shoots that fail are almost always the ones where the brand is hoping the imagery will do the strategic work that should have happened before we got to set.

I bring in collaborators as the project requires — assistants, stylists, set designers, makeup artists, sometimes a videographer if the deliverable includes motion. I'm comfortable being the lead or being part of a larger team a brand has already assembled, depending on what the work needs.