about the photographer

A Charleston, WV native and educated as a Certified Public Accountant, I've always felt a need to create. My experiences as a Vietnam combat veteran in 1968-1969 left me with a need to seek out and express the more beautiful side of life. Although I explored many creative outlets, it wasn't until I discovered photograph in 1999 that I knew I had found the creative outlet that I had been searching for all those years. I'm a perfectionist. In my journey to fine my creative self, I would always give up because I couldn't reach perfection. With photography, I know that I will never find perfection, but learning about the people, places and things around me...including myself...makes it a creative outlet that I will never give up. For me, it's enough to enjoy the perfection found in nature.

The beauty of nature is my main inspiration. Through my photography, I present nature, not as the lens captures it, but as I see, feel and experience it - an endless array of exciting colors, shapes and designs.

I use various techniques to present what I feel and experience at the moment of capture. When nature gives me that perfect moment, I'll present it as a traditional photograph. When it doesn't, which is most of the time, I'll process the image in a more impressionistic manner that looks more like a painting, in fact, I call those my PhoDigital Paintings. Other times, I will use my lens as a paint brush, actually moving the camera while I'm shooting to produce a more abstract image.

Photography, for me, isn't about f/stops, shutter speeds or equipment. It's about living, feeling, seeing. It's life living, life giving. For within the beauty of nature, we find the essence of our souls.

My work has appeared in over 100 exhibitions throughout the United states and is included in many corporate and private collections including several pieces in the State of West Virginia permanent Collection.