I am a Fine Art Photographer, born and raised in the Central

Valley of California. In 1978, I graduated from Fresno City

College with an A.A. in Liberal Arts. I went on to California

State University, Fresno and received my B.F.A. in 1981.

The early years: My first introduction into photography was

when I was in the six grade and my parents bought me a Kodak

X-15 Instamatic camera, with "Magic Cube" flash. It was for my

upcoming school trip to see the Carmel Mission. I still remem-

ber how excited I was to open that Black & Gold box. Years later

I got to revisit that mission and shot a wedding there. Great

memories all around.

In high school I joined the photography club and did some

work for the year book. This was my first experience in a dark

room, developing my own film and making prints. I was

hooked.

After that I went on to college, not entirely sure what I wanted

to do with my life. When I confided this to a friend at school one

day, she simply asked, "Well, what is it you love to do?” My

reply was without hesitation, "Photography!”. Time to visit my

counselor. At FCC, my instructor was Ray Arth, who is a gradu-

ate of Brookings Institute and a devote believer in the Zone

System. So my first semester of serious photography was spent

calibrating light meters, cameras, lenses, film, etc... A bit scien-

tific for an art class, but well worth the investment in time. If

you want your vision to appear on the final print, you'd better

understand how to use your tools and make them work for you.

Moving on to my days at Fresno State, I was fortunate enough

to get a professor by the name of Richard Delaney, who has his

masters from San Francisco State. Now if my studies at FCC

were bit on the scientific side, Fresno State was the complete op-

posite. We were concentrating on the "ideals of high art". In fact,

in my photo-graphics classes, I don't remember ever developing

my own film. We had lab assistants for that, don't you know.

Anyway, back in the 1970's, there was still some debate as to

whether or not photography could be considered fine art or not.

It seems silly now, but it required you to have a fighter’s men-

tality, once the critiquing began.

After college, I decided I wasn't interested in making a living

doing photography. I thought it would dampen my enthusiasm

for it. Now, having said that, I have done my share of weddings

and graduation photos for close friends, family members and

colleagues.

I'm not much into "showing" my work either. I've been asked

from time to time about it, but the expense and time involved

would have a negative impact on me producing new work. You

know, that thing I love doing. Now having said that, I have had

a few works put into shows. Once at the Fresno Art Museum

and a time or two at the Spectrum Gallery. I've also sold a few

pieces over the years, but I don't really pursue that either. I

guess I just prefer to spend my time making the art.

On a side note, I once worked for the artist Cristo. In 1991, I

spent a week down in Southern California helping to install The

Umbrellas. I learned a lot about the international art scene, and

just how much effort, time, and money goes into such a large

project. The logistics alone was mind numbing.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. -- SMILE!