There are numerous career choices available to individuals who have studied as landscape architects, as well as those with experience in the industry. The following story is about Michael Todoran and his journey of highs and lows, culminating in his decision to start HAPS Agency to tell the stories of the people behind projects.
On the morning of January 30, 2023, I was a landscape architect with a steady career, a side practice as a photographer, and the security of a home Rhoda and I had just bought. By nightfall, I was unemployed, broke, and staring at a mortgage payment we had no way to make.
For days, I cried — not the neat, cinematic kind, but the kind that blindsides you while making coffee. I was at a crossroads with no signs. The obvious move was to find another job at a firm. Instead, I called Gina Ford.
In that call, Gina and I stripped my situation down to its core: what I really wanted was to be a storyteller. Part of that was the high-end architectural photography I’d been quietly doing for over a decade. Gina told me, “I think it’s time you go on your own,” and then immediately acted on it — hiring me to shoot a major Sarasota Bayfront project without ever asking to see my portfolio. The resulting images assisted the project to go on and win awards. That leap of faith became the moment HAPS Agency was born.
The Shot
Fast-forward a year, and I’m in North Shore Park, California, photographing a Kounkuey Design Initiative project for Landscape Architecture Magazine. My son Skyler was 11 then, quiet but attentive. At one point, he walked over and said:
“You should take a picture of me thinking about the water.”
That suggestion became the August 2024 cover of Landscape Architecture Magazine — published just after his 12th birthday. More than a cover, it marked the beginning of Skyler’s creative direction.
It was Skyler’s frame. His instinct. And it became more than a photograph — it was a metaphor for what HAPS had become: a family-driven practice rooted in storytelling, artistry, and immersion. These days, I pay Skyler to shoot second camera on assignments and bring him into client meetings, introducing him as, “This is my business partner, Skyler.”
Why This Story Matters
The Shot isn’t just about a magazine cover — it’s about a way of working and living:
- The role of storytelling in landscape architecture – expanding the discipline’s public reach beyond drawings and renderings.
- Design as witness – documenting not only place, but the social and environmental forces that shape it.
- Fieldwork as lived experience – the blurred line between professional assignment and personal journey.
The short film we produced traces the entire arc: from a midnight ER visit on the way to the shoot, to driving through Mecca, Oasis, Thermal, and North Shore with KDI’s Christian Rodriguez Ceja, hearing about asthma, flooding, eviction, and the pride of parks that protect as much as they inspire.
The Shot – A Photojournalism Journey Through the Coachella Valley | Video Credit: HAPS Agency. The Landscape Architecture Magazine cover and article appear courtesy the American Society of Landscape Architects. All Rights Reserved.
The Real Story Behind HAPS Agency
Rhoda and I first dated in the late 1980’s, but drifted apart. Twenty years later, in 2009, she came to an art show I was curating. We fell in love that weekend. Months later, we packed my truck and drove to Ohio so I could attend graduate school for landscape architecture at The Ohio State University. We haven’t looked back since.
We came to PR as artists first. My background runs from solo art exhibitions to curating large-scale shows like LVSK8 and OHSK8, to practicing landscape architecture for over a decade. Rhoda built her career as a strategic producer in the digital industry, coordinating complex creative and technical projects.
We’re not outsiders looking in — we’ve lived the profession we represent. We run HAPS with the same immersion we bring to our art: understanding the parti and underlying design principles before ever touching a camera shutter or drafting a press release.
The Landscape Architecture Podcast Era
The podcast began out of pure curiosity — to understand the people behind the profession. One turning point came when Mia Lehr vetted me before a panel discussion and insisted, I uphold the ethics and professionalism of a journalist. That conversation transformed the podcast from a personal project into something larger than myself.
Over the years, the show has given me unparalleled access: walking sites, sitting in design studios, and building trust with some of the most influential voices in landscape architecture. Those relationships often evolve into client work and strategic consulting.
The Business Side
In the early months of HAPS, income lagged behind expenses. It was a period defined by risk and uncertainty, but also by the growing recognition that what we were building had value — not only to us, but to the wider landscape architecture community. Each project, each conversation, reaffirmed that this was more than survival; it was the beginning of a practice rooted in story.
Legacy & Intention
If HAPS ended tomorrow, I’d want to be remembered for The Shot — not just the image, but the conversations and lives behind it. Every project we take on is immersive from day one. We approach each as a work of art because, to us, representing a client means representing their life’s work.
At HAPS, we believe in storytelling that honours the people behind the projects. We collaborate with architects, engineers, designers, contractors, and civic leaders who are deeply committed to place, process, and impact.
For Michael and Rhoda, storytelling is both craft and calling — a way of seeing the world as it is and as it might be. That vision carries on at HAPS Agency.
Images Credits: HAPS Agency. The Landscape Architecture Magazine cover and article appear courtesy the American Society of Landscape Architects. All Rights Reserved.