I have been a photographer for more than 30 years with 20 of those years as a professional photojournalist for daily newspapers.

My highest awards include the Associated Collegiate Press' Photo of the Year in 1993, the Associated Press' Missouri Submitted Photo of the Year in 2009, three other national-level awards and numerous regional and state awards. I was also nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

For most of my career, I have shot Nikon equipment. I started out on Minolta SLR cameras in high school and shot those up through my first professional job when I acquired a loan to purchase my first professional Nikon SLR setup. Later, I shot with a Nikon N90s up until my (then) newspaper went digital. My first digital camera was an AP/Nikon/Kodak NC2000e, built on the N90s SLR. At my next newspaper, we shot the Nikon D1h for many years. I purchased a Nikon D2h to replace the D1h. I switched to Canon for a couple years when I upgraded to the EOS 1d Mark II (since I couldn't afford to replace the Nikon 400mm F2.8, I shot both Canon and Nikon at the same time during this period). With the release of the amazing Nikon D3s, I have switched back to Nikon and I'm very happy about that.

The performance level and quality of the D3s exceeded my expectations. My photographic style lies heavily on shooting without flash to capture mood lighting as much as possible and to maintain the truth of the image. The D3s allows me to do just that with its high ISO offerings and super clean, low noise levels.

After that, I bought the D500 and shot with it for a few years. Most recently, in late 2022, I purchased a Nikon Z9 and finally took my first step into mirrorless. For now, I'm still using my Nikon F-mount lenses with the F2ZII convertor.

Yes, I love cargo pants and drinking mugs that look like lenses. :)

On a personal level, I enjoy writing fiction (mostly sci-fi and fantasy) on the side, including novels and screenwriting. Thus far, I have been published as part of a writing/game design team on two Star Wars books: "Clone Wars Campaign Guide" and "Galaxy of Intrigue." I'm currently looking into additional avenues for this outlet of my career as a freelance writer and game designer. Recently, I worked on the "Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Civil War Event" book and another forthcoming Marvel RPG book.

I'm a big movie buff and am very much into Blu-Rays. I also enjoy rock music of most types but slanting toward classic metal, hard rock, and '90s alternative rock.

P.S. For those of you who keep messaging me to purchase photos, most of these images are copyright by the newspaper I work for. I cannot sell you those images, but I can direct you to my editor, who can let you know what they would charge for the image. Only my personal images are available for sale and I'd be more than happy to give you a sale price.