I began photographing as a boy. My grandfather would give me a camera loaded with a roll of film. After I shot the roll, he would send the pictures in to be processed. I was fascinated by the process and quickly became a photo-nerd.
My Grandfather as photographed by me.
Me as photographed by my grandfather.
In High School photography was an integral part of my identity. I was the photographer for my school's newspaper and yearbook. I photographed sports and school events and spent my study halls in the school darkroom.
Photo of Red Clay Creek in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Taken when I was in High School.
I studied photography at Ohio University - earning a BFA in 1979. I went on to work as a commercial studio assistant and darkroom technician in Wilmington, DE. During this time I also continued my photography and art studies at the University of Delaware.
Fireflys - Athens, OH 1978
Images from exhibit "Our Town - Photographs of Newark, DE", University of Delaware - 1980
I spent the summer of 1981 working as the Lab Manager for the Maine Photographic Workshop. This was an exciting time. I met many photographers who work I'd studied, and admired, in college. I have fond memories of listening to Paul Caponigro playing piano at a small gathering in someone's living room, and of John Sexton's graciousness. Duane Michaels and George Tice were other notable titans of Photography that I met that summer.
Camden, ME - 1981
Afterward I set up a darkroom and taught at a local community arts center in Hockessin DE. I also found employment making 35mm title slides. (This is how corporate presentations were made before Powerpoint.) During a job interview, one company showed me the computer room where they were generating graphics for their slides. They were very proud of this cutting edge technology. This piqued my interest and prompted me to take classes to learn about computing and computer graphics as an adjunct to my photography career.
This led to a job at the University of Delaware developing Computer Based Learning Applications that combined analog video and computer graphics using a specialized IBM monitor. This was before digital video was commercially available and when high end computer monitors displayed only sixteen colors. While at UD I also earned a Master's Degree in Computer Science with a concentration in Computer Graphics.
I worked a number of years in Computer Technology. Initially, I worked for Intel in a group that was bringing Digital Video to the market. Later I worked on Video Conferencing and Networking applications, and had a key role in the development of the first USB web camera.
Over time my career evolved to a point where graphics and imaging were no longer part of the job description. At every step I found the work to be interesting, innovative, and creative. But alas, it was far from my roots in the Visual Arts.
Throughout much of this time I continued to do black and white photography. While living in Oregon in the nineties I took some classes, made 4x5 landscapes, and tinkered with Photoshop. Over time however, with the demands of maintaining a career and raising a family, I stopped doing photography seriously; photography was relegated to family snapshots.
Haystack Rock, OR - 1995
The Dalles, OR - 1995
Hale Bopp comet over Mount Hood, OR (Composite Photo) - 1997
Fast forward twenty-five years and I have retired from my career in technology. I now have time and resources to return to my roots in Photographic Art. This has been a real Rip Van Winkle experience. How the world had changed! I certainly was prepared for, and understood, the technological changes. However, I didn't anticipate how the technological changes had changed the accepted aesthetic of the art form.
I am currently trying to make sense of the possibilities of photography in the 21st century. To reconnect with the Art world I've enrolled in the MFA program at Maine Media College.
It's a strange and exciting perspective. I've been making photographs my entire life. Yet, I'm starting over from the beginning. I've had to learn new digital tools and concepts. However, my goal is the same now as it was when I was younger; to make photographs that convey a piece of my soul and my sense of wonder with the world.