ABOUT ME

I grew up in Sedona, Arizona in the 50's and 60's. Since then I've lived in Detroit, Phoenix, and Durango, Colorado during the 70's and moved to Flagstaff in 1980 where I remained for most of the next 35 years. I spent a year in Prescott during that time. It seems I have gone full circle. When I retired in 2017 my wife and I moved back to Sedona...again. I am a retired industrial mechanic and mechanical CAD draftsman, an amateur photographer and geologist and have an have an interest in paleontology.

In the 1970's and 80's I was an avid hiker and backpacker. I wanted to photograph landscapes so I bought an Olympus OM-1 35mm film camera with a 50mm lens. It was the smallest and lightest SLR camera made at the time. It was also manual only so I had to learn the relationships between shutter speed, aperture and film speed ASA (ISO).

I took hundreds of photos over the those years and picked 25 of my very best to have turned into prints. I mailed the negatives to Kodak for processing but I didn't receive anything back from them. After several weeks I called them and they told me they had received the negatives but had somehow lost them. For consolation they sent me a free roll of film. How nice...

I was so discouraged I stopped taking photos for 20 years as I raised a family in the 80's and 90's. Then in 2005 I bought my first digital camera. It was an inexpensive 7 megapixel Kodak which eliminated the need for film and processing. By 2013 I bought a beginner professional Nikon D3200 and have since worked up to a D5300 and finally a fully professional D500 specifically designed for shooting action such as sports and wildlife.

Naturally I photograph whatever I find interesting but I enjoy shooting wildlife the most. I find it to be the most difficult but also the most exhilarating. It gives me chills when I make eye contact with an animal. I've sold a few photos but not enough to call myself a professional but I am a skilled amateur.

I love exploring the outdoors and searching for scenic locations. I drive a Jeep Wrangler and use a Polaris 500 Sportsman quad for particularly rough roads. I sometimes use an inflatable Sea Eagle kayak on lakes as a shooting platform to take wildlife photos. When hunting animals I'll often shoot from a pop-up camouflage tent or use camouflage clothing.