I began making photographs more as a necessity than any grand experiment in creating art. Going back as long as I can remember I have always seen pictures in my head. At first ill formed like the fragments of a dream that I'm trying to remember, this medium became the tool that I used to give definition to and make real those images. This is how I learned photography. It wasn't about trying to capture a pretty sunset or portrait of a friend or the unfolding drama on a city street. It was alone in a studio learning to trust and ultimately reproduce the images I saw. It was there, while learning my craft I discovered how to tell stories with my photographs and discovered that this medium is far from just a visual one. Like memory itself, a good photograph is so very much more than just the picture. If I am successful in incorporating the other senses, the viewer can experience my work rather than just see it.

Looking back to the moment that would define the course of my life. I can remember a cold morning camping high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It was there I turned to my father and asked, “Why don’t we ever bring a camera on these trips, why don’t we ever take pictures?” Looking eastward to the rising sun and the promise of a new day my father replied,“We could never capture an image that would do justice to the memory of this moment. A camera encompasses only one sense, close your eyes and feel the warmth of the sunlight on your face, listen to the crackle of the fire, the whoosh of the wind through the trees, smell the almost overpowering perfume of the evergreens, wood smoke, and the very earth, around you. These things are what make up memory, not just what you see.” With that one statement the gauntlet was thrown and I would spend the rest of my lifetime proving my father wrong. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area I am a self taught photographer, educator, and evangelist for all things creative. Both shooting and sharing my passion as a University Level instructor in both Photography and Digital Imaging I am blessed to pass on the many hard lessons I’ve learned about visual communication. Staying true to what I saw as a challenge so many years ago, with my work today I endeavor to make each photograph I take encompass more than just the visual. From food to rich textural still life’s for advertising clients, to sport portraiture, and fine art imagery which is now hanging in a growing number of homes and businesses, I judge each image by the number of senses I can involve. Instilling into my imagery a depth that attempts to elevate this medium well beyond a meager 1000 words.