Sometimes if feels like I was born with a camera or must have had one in the crib—it does seem that photography has always been a part of my life. Like most kids in the 50s I started with a Brownie Bullet, which like Ma bell phones you could get in any color as long as it was black. I shot tons of pictures with this camera. But one day I graduated to 35mm—yes, an Argus C3—now that was cool, the real deal just like the pros. I had really arrived.  My Uncle Sambo taught me to frame a shot by showing me how the branches of a tree would add a border to the image. Those were magic words to me.

Needless to say I continued to progress, each new a benchmark was a huge awakening for me (like learning to develop my own negatives and make prints—now that was real magic!)  This continues to this day—learning some new point in Photoshop for example.

Each of these steps opened up my ability to express myself on the blank canvass of a print and fill it in any way I envisioned. Ansel Adams taught me to look through the viewfinder and see the finished print—even framed and on the wall.  I do love to show my work and see how others view what I saw; I must say it is a thrill to pass that on to others.

The magic continues and with it the expression of art as a way to broaden the view of life, to step out of the mundane and see what lies beyond…