I began photography as a kid, back in the 1940s.  I made photos throughout my Air Force career and sold my first photographs after retirement from the Air Force in the late 1970s, those being of the coast and seaside of the Gulf of Mexico from Florida beaches.

I moved to Hickory from Franklin, NC in 2008.  In Franklin, I taught photography for 12 years in my “Dancing Trail” studio, maintained a Photographic Art Gallery for 14 years (1994-2008), led monthly field trips into the Blue Ridge Mountains and Smokies during that time, presented lectures and slide shows throughout western North Carolina and north Georgia, including several intergenerational Elderhostel presentations, and I published monthly “Dancing Trail Newsletters” on nature photography from 1998 to 2004.  In 1997 I wrote and published the book “Methods and Procedures of Outdoor Photography”.  I also founded the Franklin Camera Club which now has more than 50 members, and taught several instructional classes at the Macon County Art Association concerning techniques of composition and color.  Most of my work in the 1990s and into 2006 was done with either slide photography or back-and-white work.  I still love both of those but have not made either one since I “accidentally” became infected with digital photography.

I stress the concepts of Photographic Art and now work exclusively in digital photography and video, with concentration on composition, color, tones and texture, and I often work with an abstract design, usually through a gentle application of Adobe PhotoShop.  More and more often now my photographic work tends toward reproducing feelings I pick up while photographing rather than just the item chosen as the “object” of the picture.  That’s why I say I am (or strive to become) a “photographic artist” and do “photographic art” rather than just reproduce what is there to be seen.  Where can you get more information about this?  Glad you asked.  See Chapter Three of this book, “Composition:  Interpretation and Expression”.

I have made about 30 or 40 video “movies” varying in length from about 20 minutes to about one hour.  Video is one of the major “loves” of my life.  I love the editing part – that “post production” many photographers do not care for.  To me, the combining of still photos, video, titles, narrative, music and ambient sound leads into world of creativity that I have not found anyplace else.

Most of my photography is intended to support my main passion which is writing.  I have made only a few photographs on commission, most of my work is for my own pleasure and to satisfy my own curiosity since I often will look at something and wonder how it would look as a picture. 

Some of my pictures are on permanent display at http://photo.net/photos/Pathways