I have been a photographer ever since I could hold a Kodak Brownie camera. When I graduated to 35mm film in the late 1950s, I began a love affair with Kodachrome, which lasted until Kodak finally stopped making that wonderful film in 2010. Starting in the early 1960s, I began developing and printing my own black-and-white photos, always managing to set up a makeshift darkroom wherever I lived. Later, I got involved in 4x5" large-format (view camera) photography—primarily shooting color landscapes. As a career computer scientist, I began exploring digital photography as it became viable and switched over to digital in the early 2000s, except for my 4x5 work.

Throughout my life, I've pursued several distinct photographic subjects. I've always loved shooting landscapes and rural and urban environments. I've also always enjoyed photographing people; I think my particular stengths in this area are candid, informal portraits of both children and adults, as well as weddings and informal parties or gatherings. Over the years, I have managed to take a fair number of photos of people that they themselves wind up liking--a rare compliment for any photographer, since most people don't like the way they look in photos.

The links at the top and bottom of this page point to pages that show examples of my work in these various subject areas, as well as discussions of my policies, procedures, and pricing for shooting portraits, children, and weddings.

Why use a pro?

These days, when everyone shoots their own photos with their cell phones or compact digital cameras, what can a professional photographer offer? I believe the answer consists of a combination of factors. Of course, I use professional-quality equipment. The difference between this and most amateur cameras lies mostly in the length and speed of lenses and in the use of larger digital sensors. Long lenses allow me to stay farther back from the subject, which produces less self-conscious expressions and more pleasing perspective in portraits and candid shots of people (especially children). So-called "fast" lenses (with large maximum apertures) allow more creative control of depth-of-field, i.e., the parts of a photo that are in or out of focus; this allows backgrounds to be made less intrusive and more artistic. In addition, the larger sensors of professional-grade digital cameras provide "cleaner" images that can be enlarged and/or cropped with better results than shots from compact or cell-phone cameras; this also allows shooting in lower light without using flash, thereby producing more natural results.

Behind the equipment, however, lies the photographer's eye. Many amateurs have wonderful eyes for composition, and ultimately, whether you like my "eye" or not is simply a matter of taste. I therefore offer lots of example images on these pages.

Finally, after taking a set of photos, a professional photographer spends significant effort (in my case, anywhere from 10 to 50 times as much time as shooting) weeding and adjusting images (cropping them, correcting their contrast, color, etc.) in order to produce a final set of best shots, eliminating those that are only "almost" good enough. I tend to shoot a lot (I shot 1500 photos of the last wedding I photographed), so I have lots of shots to choose from. My weeding process is therefore labor and time instensive; but when I'm done, I usually deliver a relatively large number of resulting images. Of course, there will always be a few best ones, but there are likely to be lots of others that you will also like. Because of this, I do not limit my deliverable product to a preset number of prints or charge you by the shot; instead, I give you a large number of images, as high-resolution digital files that you can print, post, or distribute as you see fit. In the days of film, photographers guarded their originals and gave their clients only prints. In the digital age, when prints are no longer necessarily the final product, I prefer to deliver copies of the digital image files; this gives you complete control over your photos and capitalizes on my relatively prolific shooting style.

Take a look at my example images, and if my style interests you, please consider contacting me to immortalize you or those you love.