That meant learning to do a little bit of everything.

I photographed businesses and the people behind them. I filmed and edited videos. I wrote scripts and advertising copy. I directed business owners and employees who had never been in front of a camera. I created graphics, produced audio, built websites, managed social media, worked with SEO and metadata, developed advertising campaigns and helped businesses figure out how to tell their stories online.

Much of that work happened behind the scenes.

For years, people saw the finished product without necessarily knowing who created it. That was exactly how it was supposed to work. My job was never to make me the story. My job was to make the person, business or organization I was representing look its best.

That is also why my background can be difficult to summarize with a single job title.

I’m a writer.
I’m a photographer.
I’m a videographer and editor.
I work with audio and narration.
I build websites.
I understand digital marketing, branding and social media.
I design.
I publish.
I direct.

And I know how to take an idea that exists in someone’s head and turn it into something other people can actually see, hear, read and experience.

Today, I continue to work across those disciplines while incorporating modern creative technology and AI into my workflow where it genuinely improves the process. The tools have changed enormously since that first computer in 1984. The part that has never changed is my curiosity about what I can make with them.

So, what does David do?

I create.

Sometimes that means a photograph. Sometimes it means a film, a podcast, an article, a book, a website or an entire digital presence. The pages that follow are the best answer I can give you.

This is what I do.

I’ve been fascinated by technology and creativity for most of my life. My first computer arrived in 1984, I began working online in 1997, and I’ve spent the years since learning how technology can be used to communicate, create and tell stories.

I studied multimedia at the Art Institute, but the majority of what I know has been learned the way I learn best: by doing. I am largely self-taught, and throughout my career I have continued teaching myself whatever skill the work in front of me required.

My creative background began long before social media. I have spent much of my life as a musician and entertainer, playing piano, performing, recording, writing and speaking in front of audiences. Those experiences taught me lessons that eventually carried into nearly everything I do today: how to communicate, how to hold someone’s attention, how to recognize a good story, and how to present an idea in a way that people will remember.

In 2012, my work moved heavily into social media and digital content. I began working directly with small businesses that needed an online presence but often didn’t have the resources—or the need—for large advertising agencies and production companies.