My Life

My love of photography began at 6 years old when I bought my first camera with $1 and 15 Kool-Aid packages. My father was a combat photographer in the Korean War and had continued his use of photography thru the years. About the time I got my first camera he was taking a home study course and would set up a black and white darkroom in the kitchen some evenings and I would go with him on assignments as he took photos. Over the years I took photos on our family trips and vacations but never did anything more serious with my photography until after high school.

After graduating at Martinsburg High in 1978 I got a job changing tires and discovered very soon that I did not want to do that for the rest of my life so I went back to school.

I spent one year at James Rumsey Vo. Tech. Center and another year at Shepherd University majoring in photography. I also graduated from a 3-year home study course by the New York Institute of Photography. Most recently I graduated from The Hallmark Institute of Photography in Turners Falls, Ma., taking a 40 week intensive program in all aspects of photography.

In addition to freelance photography my main focus in my photography is landscape and scenic photography. I have been fortunate enough to have traveled to 49 states and parts of Canada taking photos. I usually take photo trips every year, where the main emphasis for the trip is finding new things and places that I have never been to photograph. My most recent trips have taken me to Alaska, the Northwest, Great Smoky Mountains area, Texas, and New England. It has been forty years since I bought my first camera. I am now using a digital camera and printing is done on a computer rather than in trays of chemicals. My cameras now cost closer to what I have paid for used cars in the past, but my love for photography is still the same as it was when I first printed black and white photos in the kitchen with my father.