As a boy I observed the joy of photography that my Dad experienced as a photo enthusiast. He built a darkroom in the basement of my childhood house. It was like a laboratory. Many times I watched him capturing images with his camera, then develop the roll of film in the darkroom. Under the glow of a red light in the dark I would stand on a stool to watch him through the process of making a print from beginning to end. Seeing the image slowly appear on the photo paper in developer solution seemed like magic to me.

One day Dad and I were in the darkroom together and he left the room to take a phone call. He was gone for a while, so I decided to be helpful by exposing the photo paper and processing it for him. He came back in the darkroom and asked me where his photo paper went that he was just about to expose with the enlarger. I pointed to the fully processed print in the fresh water rinse cycle. He pulled out the print with tongs, looked at it surprised, and said "nice job! "

I was 11 when I began bugging my Dad on a regular basis to take his 35mm film SLR out to make pictures. When prints were made from a few rolls of film I exposed with his camera, he looked through them and commented that I have a good eye and a unique point of view. His encouragement along with being given my very own SLR film camera by Mom & Dad for my 13th birthday got me hooked for life.

I have owned and operated my own portrait studio and done work for wedding couples, corporate clients, and NGO’s. I also exhibit art prints.

I engage my bliss by photographically documenting humanity … weddings, street life, events, and by volunteering my photography skills and time to document local and global humanitarian efforts.