By my junior year in high school, my father realized I was not destined to be a Rhodes Scholar. His Plan B was to “suggest” I look into becoming a student sports photographer for the local newspaper. When I inquired about the position, l learned of the strict qualifications for the position which were a modicum of photographic talent and a reliable car, not particularly in that order. Relying heavily on my car, I secured a position with the paper.

The paper did not have a formal training program. For the technical side of things I would shadow the staff photographers and do what they did. The creative skills I would need to learn as I went along. After a few months I showed enough progress to be aloud to take on some low risk general assignments.

While gaining the experience I needed, I was fortunate to have met some remarkable people. Some were famous but more often they were my neighbors that had some special talent or remarkable story to tell. Thankfully they were also the ones who trusted a green teenager to get their story right.

By my senior year, I was experienced enough to take on most any assignment.

After high school I picked up assignments for the paper while attending Wright State University and then Ohio University were I became a photography major.

During an extended internship with the newspaper, it became apparent that newspapers were facing some serious challenges. Production costs were mounting while advertising revenue was being dramatically affected by the competition from television. The future of print journalism was beginning to look bleak. It had me seriously questioning my career choice.

On a lark I went a job interview for a bartender position in a collage bar. Somehow I was hired and within a few months was managing the bar. I was able to draw on some of the same people skills I developed in journalism. It became the beginning of my hospitality career which included restaurants and hotels.

Despite not being a producing photographer for a number of years, my visualization continued so when the digital cameras were introduced it presented an opportunity to adapt my film experience to digital photography while tapping into my library of mental. I was confidence that I could learn my way through the challenges as I had done with the newspaper.

This website became an important part of my learning process. It allowed me to study my photographs in depth in a medium greater than camera screens, 3x5 prints or contact sheets. The website allowed me to tract my progress with the overriding goal of improvement with each new image.