So…Who Am I?

I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and spent my early childhood there. When I was about eleven years old, my family moved to a smaller community west of Milwaukee, where I would spend the rest of my childhood years.

My journey into photography began during high school—or perhaps shortly afterward. In 1978, I purchased my first camera, a Minolta SRT-202 (which I still own today). I immersed myself in learning every aspect of photography: f-stops, shutter speeds, ASA, depth of field, and everything in between. I photographed anything and everything I could, simply to gain experience and better understand the craft.

In 1980, I added a Mamiya M645 medium-format camera to my growing collection of equipment. That camera became my primary wedding camera and remained by my side until around 2002, when I sold it and made the transition to digital photography.

"Anyone can take a picture. It takes a photographer to blame the lighting."

As my passion grew, I found myself working full-time for a portrait studio in southeastern Wisconsin. There, I continued developing my skills as both a portrait and wedding photographer. The studio maintained its own color darkroom, and all prints were processed in-house rather than sent to an outside lab. I spent countless hours in that darkroom, learning the art and science of photographic printing.

After six years with the studio, the owner decided to retire from photography and pursue a different career. I was given the opportunity to purchase the business, and I did. I operated the studio for approximately nine years before deciding to close it and accept a position with a much larger studio in Milwaukee.

At the new studio, I worked as an associate photographer—a fancy title, perhaps—but I also managed the digital lab department. It was an exciting time, as photography was rapidly evolving from film to digital, and I was fortunate to be involved in both worlds.

Sixteen years later, that studio closed its doors. I had no desire to purchase another studio, so I moved into a full-time career outside of photography.

Today, photography remains more than just a profession from my past—it is a lifelong passion. From film to digital, darkrooms to Photoshop, weddings to landscapes, the camera has always been a part of who I am.