About

Introduction

I first began my “career” (if you can call it that) about 3 years ago during my sophomore year in High School. I was sitting idle with Xbox controller in hand and a stack of incomplete homework besides me. One moment I realized I wanted more in my life than putting off responsibility and productiveness for killing zombies and racing cars on a screen. Within a month, I had sold my Xbox and used some birthday money and bought my first camera! It was a Canon HV30 HD video camera.

I researched and practiced and read until I felt confident enough to post some videos online for others to critique. A fast forward a few months, I had approached a prominent wedding videographer in the LA area and he graciously let my under his wing to apprentice under him. I gained expeirence and learned enough to be able to go out on my own with personal freelance projects I found off craigslist. I did everything from events to music gigs. From motorsports to weddings. From shorts to documentaries. I took a bunch of classes, read all the books I could get my hands on, and most importantly watched and analyzed the best in the industry. Jump to October 2012, I realized I wanted to stop doing photography/videography as a hobby and take it on as a full time profession.

Mission

My goal, mission, philosophy… whatever, is to provide the best quality images I can possibly produce that the client will be ecstatic about sharing, posting, and printing everywhere and with everyone they can about their pride and joy they invested so much into, whether that be blood, sweat, tears, money, or all of the above. I want to highlight the talent, passion, and skill people have for their cars, bikes, and trucks.

What is “Meritus”?

Good question! Meritus is a word I shortened from the latin word, “memoratus” meaning “memory”. I wanted to pick a name that wasn’t like every other photography “business” like James Tsukamoto Photography. I wanted something that had substance and meaning to the purpose of my work. Meritus not only was derived from “memory” in latin, but also has “Merit” in it, which is how I want to operate the business, with positive merit– something I see missing in alot of money-making entities these days..