I grew up visiting beautiful natural landscapes with my family and I gained an early appreciation for the scenery and serenity of these places. I was also gifted a Kodak Instamatic x-15f camera as a child (oh yes, I’m that old), which gave me endless hours of amusement. It wasn’t long until I began to appreciate the the ability of legendary photographers such as Ansel Adams to capture the scenic beauty I had experienced as a child in a way that allowed the view to appreciate it in perpetuity, through a photograph.

High school is when I first began to take myself seriously as a photographer, focusing mostly on landscapes and the natural world. At this point I was borrowing my mom’s Minolta 7000 and working mostly with black and white film. I was taking classes and processing my own images, I was in love. But eventually, as is often the way of life, the demands of majoring in biology set in, and the poverty of being a full-time student became reality. I slowly let my photography passion fall to the side, as I focused on a career in wildlife biology.

Fast forward 15 years, as an adult working in wildlife science, I came to understand how the remaining natural world is ultimately delimitated and defined by the people, cultures, and urban centers around it. This led me to become fascinated with the human condition, societies, and the diversity of cities throughout the world. I began to actively seek out knowledge and experiences to help me understand and make sense of the human experience.

With an established career and a refined outlook on the world, I returned to my love of photography ready to tackle new subjects. Subjects which bring the human element into focus both through documentary style work, such as street and travel photography, and environmental portraiture, as well as through fantasy such as conceptual and character photography, where one can explore human emotion outside of the confinements of reality. Veraciously consuming new types of images from photography masters such as Annie Leibovitz, Arnold Newman, and Henri Cartier-Bresson helped drive and inspire my new ambitions. At this point I was also ready to embrace the digital camera revolution. I dove in head first to the Sony Alpha 7 series, for which I now have two bodies and a nice variety of lens.

Today I find myself always looking to continue to expand my skill set and to push my artistic expression. I love adventuring to new places, visiting new landscapes, exploring new cultures, and diving in deeper to the local scene. I use photography as a way to interpret and process the world around me, and to share my experiences with others. With the typical ebb and flow of time, circumstances, and opportunities, street photography has command a large part of my attention recently. I have joined a great community of like minded photographers at the Ambulant Photographer, for which I am eternally grateful for the camaraderie and support, and I have discovered even more great influences, including Fred Herzog, Elliott Erwitt, and Ida Wyman. Here’s to continuing the journey. If you are still reading at this point, wow! Bravo, you definitely deserve a prize 🙂 Thank you!