Today, I consider myself a fine art documentary photographer. I have completed portfolios of Guatemala’s Ixil Triangle, Dinners of Dayton, and my newest: The Huffman Flying Field at Simms Station. I hope that I will have good health and opportunities to continue making images for many more years.
My interest in photography was born out of my childhood loves of chemistry and painting, which I learned at home. My father was a gifted artist and my first teacher. He produced wonderful sculptures, drawings and paintings throughout his life. He taught me a little but inspired me a lot. I remember many Saturday afternoons learning lessons in color composition, shading, and perspective. However, at that young age, I was more interested in chemistry and the experimentation of making new things.
Given that I’d grown up during the dawn of the space age, rocket propulsion and plastics development caught my interest. So at University, I studied Chemical Engineering and I also learned about jets—I took one ride, and I was hooked! I joined the Air Force and became a flight test engineer. I progressed in my career and later designed airplanes, computers and finally satellites. All combined, I have made an enriching life from Aerospace Research and Development.
My photographic endeavors started about 20 years ago when I was in my 40’s. A friend introduced me to cameras and took me to a fashion shoot. We made images of models and clothing. Everything moved too quickly because of the combinations of light, color, shapes and emotions. Then, I decided it would be useful to attend art school and learn fundamentals. As with most disciplines, the fundamentals were rigorous and tedious but in the end proved very useful. There I also experienced the wonders of film and print processing. Almost immediately my technical and artistic backgrounds joined back together. In art school, I also experienced the excitement of showing prints. At my first student competition, I won first prize with one print and another was purchased for the school’s permanent archive. Few show submittals had this level of success. In fact, I’ve had some very painful failures. However, these failures have inspired me towards corrections and improvements. Following art school, I sought out some of the best photographers in the world. I’ve learned portfolio development, darkroom skills, camera skills, and vision development. These skills all came together into genres based on studio, street, and travel based photography.
Over the years, I have continued winning awards and had my images displayed internationally. Still, I remember the first time that I was recognized as an artist as opposed to an engineer or student. It was during an awards presentation at a show, and I had won a prize. The Mayor was giving the awards and requested that the artists come on stage. As he shook my hand, he said, “Congratulations, Artist,” and smiled. Maybe it was a proclamation, but I grinned and recognized that I had become an artist with all the obligations to continue making the best work possible.
