I began taking pictures at a very early age.  And usually, they weren’t of people.  I liked to document the strange things I would find.  As I hit high school, it was a natural progression to start taking photography classes as soon as I could.  I had a great teacher, and as I progressed, he was fairly critical of my work.  I learned a lot from him, and I still use a lot of what I learned today.  I also was the photo editor for a couple years on the yearbook staff.  Not a big accomplishment, but I did get to do things like shoot sports and other activities.  Again, I have never liked taking pictures of people, but that was part of the job.

After my junior year of high school, I saved my pennies, and purchased my first “nice” SLR camera.  For the time, it had some pretty nice features, like auto focus, electronic controls, and auto exposure/speed.  Pretty snazzy for a 35mm film setup.  I continued my photography classes through my senior year in the form of independent studies.  I spent a lot of time in the dark room and learned a lot about lighting and exposure techniques, as well as composition and subject selection.  I was also the adjunct sub for the underclassmen photography classes on occasion.  Not my given choice, but you do wat needs to be done when you are “working” for the teacher.

After high school, I took a lot of landscape and nature photos, just trying to keep up on what I liked to do.  I also did a few events such as golf outings, and banquets.  I even shot one wedding for a friend.  That solidified what I already knew…I am not a wedding photographer.  Good for the experience, I guess.  A few years later, my camera decided that it wasn’t going to work any more.  I really don’t know why, but it worked one minute, and the next time I pulled it out, it didn’t.  At that time, the digital technology was starting to be mainstream, and I didn’t have the money to purchase that, but I also didn’t want to invest in new film equipment.  There is sat.  A camera bag full of stuff that did nothing for many years.  I contemplated selling it a few times, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

Fast forward 10 years or so.  With the old equipment still in a now dust covered Tamarac bag, I decided that I would begin the process of researching the world of digital single lens reflex cameras.  DSLR’s to most people.  What better way to justify the purchase of one, than buying one for your wife for Christmas?  While my old lenses were still usable on the new equipment, I had a couple new lenses to choose from, and the freedom to take as many pictures as I could without changing film.  It felt good to be using a “real” camera again.  Now, I just needed find excuses to use it.  Well, I did, when I was asked to shoot an RGS fun trial.  It was kind of like riding a bike.  Everything just came back naturally.  After that, things kind of fell into place for me, and I was able to take this gig semi-pro.

Here now in 2024, I have images being used by various commercial outlets.  Most of my work has been featured in the outdoor media space, however I have produced content for other outlets as well.  Photography is still my passion, but I have evolved my skillset to include videography, graphic design, and website design to my portfolio.