I am an artist by nature and have always been fascinated by photography and the ability to capture a scene, or a moment in time, with a camera. I remember the accordion camera that my father used to take pictures at the local high school football games. My first hands on experience was with the families Pentax 35mm film camera, followed by studying photography in college, also with a 35mm film camera and lots of hours in the dark room. My artistic endeavors have been in various mediums, starting with free form wood work and fine furnishings, architectural & architectural cut stone design on to logo design … Oh, yea, Photography too.

I am a conceptual photographer, which simply means that I am trying to tell a story with every shot. The conceptual photography can be either staged and planned out into a complete photo shoot or it can be spontaneous. The planned photo shoots are large projects that need multiple people involved. I spend a lot of time on my own, coming up with the concept and conceiving the different shots I will need to tell the story. After that is done, I need to get models selected and lined up, a makeup artist and a designer to provide wardrobe and stylize the models. I sometime even higher grips and gaffers to help light the seen and move props or hold reflectors. I love the big photo shoots with all the planning and preparation that goes into them, but I also love the spontaneous work just as much. That is where my moto “Capturing Life as it Happens” comes from. There are so many things that go into getting a shot that speaks but with the spontaneous work, about the only one that I can really have much to do with is “being there”. And I never know where “there” is until I see it. I might be driving by something I have driven by 100’s of times, but one time there may be a convergence of enough element that the shot just jumps out at me and I am compelled to stop. Maybe it’s a winter morning and the low winter sun is causing exquisite contrasts with the deep shadows, or could be a heavy dew that is giving reflective interest, or haze, or dusk, or …. You just never know. Anyone who has talked to me for more that a few minutes has likely heard me say, “you can’t take the shot if you don’t have the camera”, and that is truly how I feel. That is Capturing Life as it Happens, and that is why, if you see me anywhere, you can bet I have one of my cameras hanging at my side and ready to swing into action. The cameras are an extension of my eyes. They just allow other people to see the world, at least in some part, the way I do.

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