My Journey as a Photographer

I spent many days at my grandpa's house watching the slides and looking and pictures he had taken. Like most boys, I would quickly become bored of watching slide after slide, but I knew it was the price that I had to pay for him to allow me to use his camera. I believe he must have liked it when I asked him if I could use his camera because he always graciously obliged me. It was at this time in my life that I realized that I wanted to be a photographer.

My grandpa recognized and appreciated my interest in photography and supported this interest by giving me books on photography, taking the time to teach me all that he could about photography. And, he even gave me my first camera; a used Zeiss Ikon Contessa that I still have and cherish today.

I would read and study these books on photography before I would read any other book, but my real love was to be outside taking pictures. I would take pictures of anything that interested me and everytging else. I was so proud of these pictures that I would give these pictures to my friends as birthday and Christmas presents. I now wonder what a 13 year old boy would be thinking when he received a picture of sunset for his birthday.

In junior high school I played football, basketball and baseball, but my real love was still photography. One of my proudest moments in junior high was being the yearbook photographer. The school had a Hasselblad camera that I could anytime I wanted and they also gave me all the film I could shoot. It was also there that I learned how to develop and process pictures in the school's dark room. During this time I also had the chance to layout much of the school's yearbook. Trust me, I really know what it means to cut and paste. Having had this experience gives me a great appreciation for digital imaging.

Once I entered high school, I found that my interests shifted to girls and athletics. Even then, I still found time to take pictures. After high school, I served as a missionary in Pusan, Korea. I took my Contessa with me to Korea and am still amazed at some of the incredible pictures I was able to capture.

Shortly after getting married and while I was still in college, I worked for a school photography company. I worked as photographer for the company and in the printing department where I learned more about layout and offset printing. After graduating from college, and having lost track of my photographic aspirations, I found myself working in corporate America.

Several years ago, I felt the need to get back behind the lens and haven't looked back since. I can't explain how my love for photography turned into the more specialized interest of wedding photography, but I have been very fortunate to photograph some amazing weddings in a number of beautiful and unique locations. I bet my football teammates would be real interested to know that I am a wedding photographer. Let me break it to them slowly.