I can still remember the brilliant yellow box my first camera came in.  The Kodak Instamatic 126.  It was a present for my twelfth birthday.  Both of my parents always had a camera.  My father the Bell and Howell Super 8mm movie camera; my mother collected the latest in cameras for the everyday person.  Polaroid, 110 and 35mm.  My high school art teacher taught me to use my first 35mm camera.  Here I am today still with camera in hand.

Photography is an extension of myself.  Initially, I was drawn to the female form and did extensive studies of the nude.  Like all artists who draw or paint the figure, I tried to capture a reverent representation of the beauty that is timeless in the nude shape.  My portraiture has become a serious study of the stories the face can tell.  I believe everyone is photogenic.  I'm more interested in character; not fashion or esthetics.  Everyone is beautiful no matter what they think.  My work has matured in now I photograph things that remind me of a time that once was and never will be again.  Old buildings that hold a certain nostalgia, abandoned places that hold memories of days gone by and scenes of time that I remember fondly.  Hence my rekindled love of film photography.

After being away from using that medium for more than ten years I've taken it up with a vengeance.  I now shoot all my work on film and do much of my printing in a traditional darkroom that I recently installed.  There's nothing like the tactile feel of film and the smell of a darkroom is an aphrodisiac.  With film and a darkroom, I get in touch with the reasons that I became a photographer.  Yet I have found the tenuous balance between digital and film.  Now I love any photograph I can create with whatever camera is in my hand.

Like in life, with photography, you can't hold back. You have to give it all a try and don't be afraid to be honest with yourself; therefore your work will be honest. An artist needs to reach deep into his mind and draw inspiration from thoughts and memories that they might not express to anyone. Don't be afraid of the shadows. Only let the light shine through if it has to.