Jeff + Haze | Summer 2019
I first met Jeff when Urban Axes opened here in Austin, and he was my first league coach and really one of the first people to introduce me (and countless others) to this sport and community. He’s a guy with a heart of gold, that we all enjoyed giving a hard time at all times, and he’s been instrumental in building the axe throwing community here in Austin. We love him, and we’re going to miss him something fierce.
I’m glad I got the chance to photograph Jeff and his shuttle that he completely converted himself into a mobile tiny home before he left on his very own Great American Axeventure. I recall having a rather in depth conversation with him one night while he was building out his shuttle; it’s something he’s been wanting to do for quite some time and he’s finally on his way. He’s already put out some videos documenting his journey. He’s making his way across the US/ parts of Canada visiting as many national parks and axe throwing venues he can along the way. He’s living the dream, as far as I’m concerned, accompanied with his precious pup, Haze.
Again, I had a hard time figuring out how to write this and a huge part of that is me realizing I haven’t posted or written about my work in quite some time. It’s opening myself up to criticism, mostly from myself, to be fair. I wish I had some more time to stage more photos of the shuttle Jeff had worked so hard on. These images aren’t perfect and that’s just fine. Perfectionism is over-rated when it comes to my work, because it’s never been about that for me.
There’s a lot of things I love about photography, I’m sure that’s quite apparent… but a rather big part of why I enjoy it so much is just how much it can teach you, for lack of a better, less cliched phrase, important things about life. I spent entirely too long (I’m talking years here) striving for perfection in my work. I catch myself striving for it in my day to day sometimes. The thing is though, my photos don’t have to be perfect. They just have to have feeling behind them.
