My love for photography began when I was about 13 years old and got a 110mm camera as a gift. My mother encouraged my efforts and said that I had a natural eye for the craft.
By the time I entered high school I had saved enough pennies to buy a fully manual Minolta 35mm camera and handheld light meter. My high school had an excellent graphics tech school with a fully equipped darkroom and print shop. My hunger for improvement had me reading everything I could find and joining a local photo club. By my senior year (1981), I had shot several portraits, two weddings and did publicity shots for a couple local bands. In addition to shooting for the yearbook and school paper, I also had photos published in the Lewiston Sun Journal.
In 1981 I began my journalism studies at the University of Maine in Orono. During my years at Orono I took every photojournalism and photography course offered, enjoyed hours in the campus darkrooms and served a semester as Photo Editor for the Daily Maine Campus newspaper before switching to a news/editorial focus. I followed up my photojournalism training with photo courses in the art department at the University of Southern Maine from 1985-1987. It was at UMaine where I met and married my wife, Robin.
In 2003 I made the plunge into the world of digital photography with a Panasonic DSLRe. I loved the instant results but was frustrated by low-end digital issues of shutter lag and limited ISO settings. Shooting sports events was very frustrating since my DSLR could not compare to my 35mm equipment shooting 7 frames per second. Next I tried a Nikon D70 but still could not capture good action shots with only three frames per second. That led me into the professional DSLR ranks with a Nikon D1H.
Today I shoot mostly with a Nikon D700 and a Nikon D300 (my gear), process with Adobe Photoshop CS5 and have a full range of lenses and accessories including an SB-800 lighting system with mulitple slaves.
In this digital age where hundreds of people are buying cameras and then advertising themselves as professionals, I am a trained photographer who has been active in the craft for more than 25 years. I understand photography, lighting and have thousands of hours of experience dating back to making my own prints in darkrooms. My education, with a degree in journalism and the complete offerings of the University of Maine photography courses, shows itself in my work. I add the photojournalistic to the artistic to tell your story in creative ways.
