I got started in photography in college. I had only intended to take one course, but I enjoyed it so much that I took another. One day I asked the professor if he thought photography made him a better artist. "No," he said, " I think it makes me a better man." I thought that was a pretty good answer and changed my major.

Since photography was a part of the art department at that school I got lots of training in other arts as well. Most of it I went to kicking and screaming. Now I see that what I learned there was critical to my growth; especially at a time when most schools spend most of their time teaching the technical side.

That was more than thirty years ago and I'm still taking pictures. Over the years I have tried to slow down the frenetic pace of my work to a very slow crawl. I want to think about what I am doing and why. I want to make images deep with content and meaning. I'm not always successful, but that is what I am shooting for every time I press the shutter button.

I am on several forums now where I get to play the role of older teacher and general curmudgeon. I relish the opportunity to help people avoid some of the mistakes I made and learn a few tricks from my hard-earned experience.