My path through the photography realm has taken many turns to get me to where I am now.  

My father was a photographer.  I have memories as a child of my father lying on his belly shooting a flower.  Was he really on his belly?  Was he shooting a flower?  The memories of a youngster can be cloudy, but what is important is I was standing next to him, absorbing a passion that wouldn't fully develop for another decade.

My first camera was a Canon AE-1 I bought in a pawn shop in the early 90s.  Many rolls of film passed through that camera.  The next step was a Canon EOS 620, another pawn shop purchase, and my first experience with an auto-focus and auto-winding camera.  Many rolls of film later, I had progressed some, and have some very nice pictures that are still in my portfolio.  However, two things happened that had a huge impact on the quality of my photography.  I was able to invest in the Canon 10D, a digital camera, and I joined a photography website that emphasized reviewing other photographer's work.  The digital camera allowed me to shoot an exponential more amount of pictures, and the website made me realize I knew a lot about photography, and that helped me apply it to my own work.  That website also gave me five good friends.  I outgrew the website, but cultivated the friendships, so far as to fly across the country to shoot with them, without having ever actually met them.

I was an outdoor photographer.  I shot landscapes mostly, animals when I could, and any other outdoor scene that interested me.  

I would get up when it was still dark to be in Rocky Mountain National Park for sunrise and end up waist deep in snow trying to get the perfect shot, the wind blowing so hard I struggled to open the car door.  My photography has taken me from California to Massachusetts, Texas to Montana, Death Valley to the Smokey Mountains.  I've shot the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf coasts from 7 states and 4 countries.  Photography has been a wonderful drive in my life, and given me the passion to see and shoot as much as I could.

The move to shooting people has been a long time coming.  Early on I never considered myself a people photographer.  In fact, I worked hard to not have people in my shots.  But then I'd do a shoot for a friend, a couple bands, family...  I found myself more and more drawn to it.  However, shooting landscapes and shooting people are two different expertise, and I had to learn a new set of skills.  The tools are the same, the knowledge is all there, but it is as different as baking and sautéing.  Like most photographers, I was very critical of myself.

As an artist, you have to finally listen to your ego.  Eventually you realize you are good at what you do.  There was a point in my landscape photography when that happened.  And there was a point in my portrait photography that it happened.  That summer day, standing next to my father, started me on a path that has led me to this point.  And here I am.

Shooting people has been amazing.  You get to share in a moment with people you will remember forever.  I look forward to many more moments with many more people.