Growing up, I became fascinated with Nature. By age five I had discovered my Dad’s binoculars and would spend hours laying in the grass watching birds fluttering among the trees. Today, looking through the camera lens focuses my attention and intensifies my curiosity of the natural world. I realize that the lens is like a portal, providing a new dimension of discovery. My view is concentrated, unfettered and clear; so becomes my heart, mind and soul. But photography has an added benefit- allowing me to share my vision with you. It makes perfect sense to me that my interest in Nature led me to degrees in wildlife management and ecology, but photography made me want to pay it forward so our future generations have a chance to become the stewards we all should have become long ago. I may fail miserably because I am boring to read, my pictures really suck or you are too wrapped up in reruns of the Walking Dead, but if there is any hope in this website, it is in the notion that some of you will be inspired to discover that Nature needs to be admired and conserved. In return, you will have no excuse but to fall in love with the natural world.
For those of you who are just so moved to read on, you could be surprised to know that I am a former president of the North American Nature Photography Association, former vice president of the Florida Camera Club Council and former president of the Naples Zoo Board of Directors. I was the Official Naples Zoo Photographer for about two decades. After 25 years playing Scientist as the Wildlife Biologist for the Florida Panther and Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuges, I retired from Federal Service to devote more time to my first love- Photography. Like pretty much all artists, I aspire to the words of Robert Frank; “When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice.” This said, my ego never needs flattering as it tends to trip me up, but any applause for my work is hopefully an conscious endorsement of my vision and your understanding that I am heading in the right direction. And what direction is that? It is down the path we all can travel, illuminated with photography in a way that speaks truth about our environment and reveals the captivating beauty of Nature. If necessary, I hope it can help bring about in you a paradigm shift, transforming not just your mind, but your heart as well. The real direction is up to you.