crafted by photobiz

My Story

     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 in 2009, I graduated from The Hallmark Institute of Photography in Turners Falls, Ma., taking a 40 week intensive program in all aspects of photography.

     Since my graduation from Hallmark most of my emphasis is now on people photography.  I currently photograph portraits, senior portraits, families, church directories, preschools, real estate, groups, class reunions, commercial, weddings, and other areas of photography.

     In addition to freelance photography another focus in my photography is landscape and scenic/ fine art photography.  I have been fortunate enough to have traveled to all 50 states and parts of Canada taking photos.  I take photo trips almost every year, where the main emphasis for the trip is finding new things and places that I have never photographed.  Recent trips have taken me to Arizona, Alaska, Utah, Washington, Great Smoky Mountains, New England, and a 14 state, 16 day trip to Montana.

     Prior to the pandemic we had traveled to Japan, Norway, Australia, New Zealand and the Caribbean Sea area.   

     It has been over forty years since I bought my first camera.  I am now part of the digital age 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.

     Early in 2017 I purchased a drone, and got my FAA license in the summer of that year.  This gives me a whole new perspective for my photography, adding almost 400 feet in the sky that I can now photograph.