Why I do what I do...
When I was a kid my brother Furman was into photography.
I remember him coming home with cameras from school and taking pictures for his class.The way he used to talk about his class, I knew he loved it. He had a project one time to take a portrait of someone and he chose me. I remember him coming home telling me that the picture of me was hanging in the board of education building in our hometown. I thought, maybe I could take pictures one day, I was 9 years old. When I was 12, I was enrolled in a summer program called Horizon's Summer Program. In it, we had classes in the morning (math, science, social studies, english and art) we were divided according to grade. It was in my 9th grade year that I was fully introduced to photography. My teacher was Dennis Bradbury, a wonderful, freespirited lady who was as gifted a photographer as she was a teacher. She made me love photography and I thank her for that. If it wasn't for photography, I would be lost. When I quit drinking 32 years ago I picked back up my camera and really haven't put it down since. When my wife and I moved to Fargo, North Dakota I met a man by the name of Bruce Danuser. and where Dennis first taught me photography, Bruce taught me how to be a photographer. He took me under his wing and taught me studio photography. He had a studio space that he did alot of shooting out of and he gave me a key to let me go and shoot as much as I wanted. I would spend evenings shooting portraits of a close family friend (and all around good sport), and others who would let me take portraits. The more I shot, the more confidence I gained and the more I really understood the power of the camera. When I was little there was this ad in the magazine section of our Sunday news paper. The ad was a liquor ad and every week, it would feature someone of note answering the question "Why I do what I do". I don't why that particular ad stuck with me, perhaps maybe because I would often fantasize about being interviewed and being asked that question. I do what I do because, when I'm behind the camera, I'm at peace. That's my "safe place". When I'm there I can see the beauty in things others would never otherwise notice. I do it because I love sharing what I do with people, it gives me so much joy. So when someone asks me to shoot a wedding or a senior portrait, I see it as a profound honor that they would ask me to do that for them.