BIOGRAPHY: My creative eye for photography started at the age of six with 25 cents and two boxtops from Wheaties cereal. That got me a plastic 127 roll film camera, and I was hooked. I’m sure the nuns found me an annoyance, always popping up with my camera, little did I realize that I was even then a practitioner of Henri Cartier-Breeson’s Decisive Moment. Having been involved professionally in photography since the age of sixteen, one of my highlights came in 2022 when I received the prestigious PPA National Award for “meritorious contributions to professional photography”.

TECHNIQUES:  Most of my techniques harken back to my training in film and the darkroom. In the back of my mind, I still try to capture my vision in a few frames as possible. I know my latest cameras will capture 20 frames per second, but I would rather do it in two or three frames over minutes. Ultimately nothing beats capturing everything with the press of the shutter, leaving no need for Photoshop.

INSPIRATION: I am inspired by the synchronicity of when my subject, light, exposure, and art principles come together. This only happens when I take risks in composition, style and technology but apply everything I learned over decades.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: In my extensive career, it’s hard to point to specific highlights because it has taken such a varied path. I loved the deadlines of newspapers, but I cherished the artistic freedom of classes at the Kansas City Art Institute. However, the most interesting two-week period in my life was having different photographs published in both the Christian Science Monitor and Playboy magazine, quite a dichotomy.