While other kids were flipping through comic books, I was thumbing through the glossy pages of Life and National Geographic. It was around that same time that my younger brother and I decided to pool our paper route money to buy a Kodak 44 Instamatic. It was my first camera, and I was instantly hooked.

I got my first serious camera after High School, and quickly got into photography at a higher level.

Years later, flipping through the images in a family scrapbook, I saw one of my favorite shots of my brother and sister sitting on a dock, and commented aloud that I wished I had the negative. Well, you know the old saying, "ask and you shall receive?" Sure enough, the next time my mom came to visit, she brought with her a brown paper bag full of all of the negatives from my family photos. It was one of the best gifts I ever got.

In later visits, I got more negatives and movies, and ended up cataloging and storing them. Believe it or not, I now have a collection of film and contacts that would fill two large refrigerators! I guess it's no surprise that I soon became not only the family photographer, but the family archivist as well.

Photography has been a big part of my professional life too.

For years, I worked in commercial photography as an account representative and company manager. I had the opportunity to work with some of the best photographers in the industry, and as a result, I acquired a great deal of knowledge and understanding of the film and digital process. However, as the business changed in my market, I was drawn back to what I have always loved doing – shooting images.

I am passionate about capturing and preserving memories through images, and I love taking photos that are spontaneous, emotional, and timeless. I have studied (and experimented) extensively to learn the mechanical and artistic sides of photography so that I can combine that knowledge with what my eyes see and my heart feels.