I didn't take the obvious path.
I took the interesting one.
art direction & photo editing for hospitality + luxury lifestyle
the real story
I started with a camera in my hands. Shot luxury interiors (which I love), lifestyle campaigns, editorial stories for brands that cared how things felt, not just looked. And I learned fast: taste is more than knowing what to leave out. What makes someone linger on a well-lit table or dreamy room. And it doesn’t have to be just beige. Please, be more than monochrome.
Then I built a 3D team from scratch. Hired artists, wrote CGI briefs, art directed outputs that were held to the same standard as photo shoots. Rigor, really, intention, always chasing what feels real, not hollow.
When AI hit I taught myself Midjourney before most agencies blinked. Sitting on my sofa hunched over my laptop I obsessed over what it could and couldn't do. Stretched myself, photoshoppped and tweaked prompts. And built standards matching my photo + 3D bar. Then I led and trained a team of 10-20 creatives on AI workflows. Set brand voice guidelines for generative work. Ran quality control on high-volume pipelines. Taught people how to see what I see.
Taste + technical fluency + leadership = AI creative that feels luxurious, alive, and most importantly human. Especially hospitality, where imagery books rooms or gets scrolled. AI can't feel that guest longing. I sure can though.
Currently? I’m the Photo Editor at Curator. It’s pure design candy that keeps my editorial eye sharp. Outside work, building Camellia House: sensory boutique hotel surrounded by flowers, a car to the beach. Ambitious? Oh, hell yeah. And every luxury project feeds the research.
Creative leadership home: luxury hospitality, editorial, lifestyle brands thinking bigger than briefs. Remote-first, Miami-based, but I’d relocate for LA. Building something meaningful together?
In the meantime, I'm building my own thing. Follow along.
field notes →