About Me

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-800 N8658A on final
Taken May 3, 2026

My name is Caden. I am a 20-year-old web dev & photographer.

The age updates on my birthdate with JS!

Where I'm From

I’ve lived in St. Louis, Missouri for most of my life, but I’m originally from a small rural town in central Pennsylvania, Bloomsburg. When I was around 8 years old, we moved to St. Louis in pursuit of a better job market and living conditions.

I spent most of my time in St. Louis in the Affton School District. I graduated from Affton High School in May of 2024, and went on to continue my studies at St. Louis Community College, which I graduated from in May of 2026!

You can find more details about my awards and honors from both on the Portfolio » page.

I originally planned to go into Software Engineering, which I participated in the Access Point program ↗ for through 2023 & 2024, but I decided it wasn't for me and moved to Web Design (I'm far more passionate about this!)

My Interests & Hobbies

I have many interests that form me into the kind of person that I am. I enjoy talking about these, and having long, in depth discussions about them!

Photography

Photography isn't just something I'm willing to do for work - it's one of my favorite hobbies. All of my hobbies tend to involve photography (the following two, Aviation & Weather in particular). I don't have the greatest gear, but I make do with what I have and I still always enjoy getting the perfect shot of something rare and exciting! You can see some of the photos I've taken in the Gallery » page!
My current equipment is a Canon EOS Rebel T1i (aka Canon EOS 500D), with an EF-S 18-55mm lens and an EF-S 55-250mm lens.

I've mostly taken photos in aviation (more details below), but I do have a handful of weather-related photos as well!

Mammatus clouds seen over St. Louis after severe thunderstorms.
Taken April 27, 2026

Sunset after the same thunderstorms.
Taken April 27, 2026

Aviation

Easily my biggest interest at the time of writing. I love almost everything about aviation; flying (as a pilot (I am not one, I would like to be) & passenger), airliners, liveries, flight simulators, and so much more. It's hard for me to decide between the three, but my favorite airliners are the Airbus A350-1000ULR, the BAC/Aérospatiale Concorde, and the Lockheed L1011-200 TriStar.

One of my favorite things to do is head out to an airport and watch the planes land or take off (Planespotting). Usually I go with the intent to take a photograph of a specific aircraft, but I stay for a lot longer to see and capture anything else I find interesting. The best way I can equivalate seeing a rare or unique aircraft is like opening a pack of trading cards and getting something rare - when you don't know it's coming, it's super exciting to see in person!

A notable example of this is when I went to STL Airport for some planespotting (my first time actually!) with the intent of capturing a British Airways B787-8, but I ended up also getting photos of a Bombardier Challenger 350 and Southwest's California One special livery (N943WN)!

X-Plane 12 (2022) screenshot of the FlightFactor A350 in the 100 Year Anniversary Lufthansa Livery.

Ditto, in the 100 Year Anniversary Delta Livery.

Weather

I enjoy watching storms and other kinds of severe weather on radar. I am capable of accurately reading Reflectivity and Velocity radar and spotting rotation indicating tornadoes on them!

I'd love to go storm chasing someday, to get to see certain types of severe weather phenomena I have never gotten to see in person before. I'm planning on becoming a Trained SKYWARN® Weather Spotter in the National Weather Service!

Radar indicated rotation on velocity.

A Storm Prediction Center outlook, showing an enhanced risk of severe weather (in orange).

Gaming

My longest lasting hobby, and not likely to disappear anytime soon, I love playing so many genres of video games. I've always had more of an emphasis on creative/sandbox games, such as Minecraft (2011) (which i've played since 2012) and Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream (2026), but I also play looters, shooters, milsims, vehicle simulators, survival games, and strategy games.

My all-time most favorite game is Subnautica (2016). The story is immaculate, it performs insanely well for how good it looks. It is truly a timeless game, and even if you don't enjoy video games that much, I consider it very worthwhile to try at least once.

A screenshot from Napoleon: Total War (2010), showing Prussian Line Infantry preparing to fire as a rank.

Ditto, of Subnautica (2016), showing the downed Aurora spacecraft.