Once upon a time (2001) I was a male model who found myself on Manhattan island in briefs then on a ferry to FIP [The Pines] where I met very influential people but quickly realized that my soul was at stake and that a pivot was in order.  In a biz full of "Diddy's" who think that they can buy and sell you, I was lucky to have a mother agent, Barbara Corell -recently retired- who possessed one of those ever more rare items called a conscience.  She actually cared about the working models / talent she represented actually working [as opposed to being contractually bound then stashed away in a file and kept from good jobs or collaborating with other agencies] which made her one in a million and now glaringly inimitable.  So after my abrupt NY 180- deciding too many strings were attached- I forsook the opportunity to sign with CLICK NYC as well as a meeting with the Casting Director for one of the big soaps of that time, the name of which I don't recall but  believe it was One Life to Live.  Returned home to Upstate SC, bought a camera and Barbara graciously began sending agency models / actors my way for headshots & portfolio photos.  There's more to the story but that's how I got my start in a nutshell.  All in all, the experience of being in front of a camera taught me much about being behind one... namely that a photographer of people is only as good as his ability to provide detailed direction.   

My photography subjects cover a range that includes models and actors, brides, graduating seniors, animals / pets, architecture, families, cookbook/menu cuisine,  leaders in business, the arts, and moments / scenes in nature.  With each of my sessions I try to put myself in the Subject / Client's shoes and imagine "How would I want to look in photographs if I were this person?"  I have been a model testing photographer for Ford Models NY & Major Model Management NYC along with having been the official headshot / portrait photographer for Miss SC America and a sponsor photographer for Miss SC USA, photographing all of the title holders during that time .  I have also worked as the official photographer for a successful city magazine for almost nine years helping that publication to rebrand itself which led to it becoming the prototype used by Gannet, parent company of USA Today, to represent what they wanted all of their similar city magazines across America to emulate and become.  Additionally, I served as Creative Director and lead photographer for an international women's magazine HQ'd in Upstate, S.C. & distributed to homes with disposable income worldwide as well as being for sale at all Barnes & Noble bookstores.  In front of my lens throughout the years I've had United Nations and US ambassadors, leaders of global media empires and many others I can't even recall.  There is a time and a season for everything under the sun and each of my past opportunities taught me something that I carry with me to this day.  It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..... but the very best is always yet to come.

Be well.

-JN

A few other odds & ends about me:

-Born in Asheville, North Carolina & West Asheville was my first
   home.
-I'm in better shape now at 46 than I was at 26 or 36 in all the ways thanks in part to my love of lentils, chickpeas and other middle eastern & Mediterranean cuisine along with sobriety, intermittent fasting and an appetite that is finally in submission to my will to be the healthiest I can be.  No more binge anything.
-I only enjoy airports and flying in the universe of my dreams.  More bluntly, I loathe flying both commercial & private but love the view... internal conflict of interest.  
-The Vitamin Shoppe is my favorite store.
-A favorite quote is "Ignorance's destiny is awareness."  
-Favorite podcast is Huberman Lab.
-Growing up creative I still occasionally enjoy drawing &  painting as "art therapy" sometimes also painting backdrops for photoshoots. 
-Not a "fashionista" by any stretch and most usually in all black and a hat, seeking to quietly blend in and observe rather than loudly stand out and be observed except for  rare occasions.  I've lived through an "I care too much about how I look" stage and an "I don't care at all" stage.  Both vanity and apathy are for the birds.  Now I'm just comfortable as me.  
-My favorite number is NINE.