I’m Cole, a San Francisco photographer working across hospitality, food & beverage, events, portraiture, and editorial brand work.
What started as a way of documenting the world around me while growing up in rural Oregon eventually became the way I make a living. But the part I love hasn’t changed much: noticing small details and moments that might otherwise get missed.
My background in visual design shapes the way I photograph. I pay close attention to color, form, and the way everything balances within the frame, treating an image as a composition rather than just a record of what happened.
Whether I’m documenting a hotel, a meal, a person at the center of the story, or a room full of people, I want the images to feel considered without feeling overly produced, while still reflecting what the experience actually felt like.
My goal is to create images that feel as good as the experience itself.
Clients & Collaborators
Adobe · Google · Microsoft · Applied Materials · Unsplash · Swissnex · WestBridge Capital · Tidemark · Kindred Ventures · The House Fund · Cortical Ventures · Mosaic Hotel Collection · The Madrona · North Block Yountville · Olema House · El Dorado Hotel & Kitchen · Treehouse Hotel Silicon Valley · Wailea Beach Resort · Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa · LoveShackFancy · Agility Robotics · Newcomer Media · 1440 Multiversity · Dfinity
Recognition
350 million+ image views · 2 million downloads
First Place, Pexels Photo Invitational Portland, presented with Timbuk2, 2019
Unsplash Awards, shortlisted in Experimental, 2018 and Fashion, 2020
Named one of Giggster’s Top 10 Portrait Photographers in San Francisco, 2023
Selected Features & Commissions
Adobe
Interviewed and featured as a contributing photographer in Adobe’s guide to texture in photography.
Microsoft Surface & Windows
Commissioned through Unsplash Studios to create photography for a Microsoft Surface and Windows campaign.
Marin Living
Cover photography and editorial imagery for Marin Living, featuring Due West at Olema House.
Health Affairs
Commissioned editorial photography for a feature on health systems and affordable housing in Portland.
The Nation
Photography for a feature documenting street medicine and homelessness during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Boxed Wine Boyfriend Engagement
Photographed the viral engagement of Portland artist Mike Schneider and his boxed-wine boyfriend, Franz. The images were featured by VICE, HuffPost, BuzzFeed, and PinkNews in 2018.
Popular Science
Photography featured in Popular Science.
United Nations Environment Programme
Photography featured by the UN Environment Programme.
Portland Monthly
Photography featured by Portland Monthly.
Unsplash x Square / Weebly
Hosted an Unsplash photo walk for Makers to Merchants in Portland, Oregon for 25 people, sponsored by Square and Weebly, December 2018.