As a young boy, I found myself preoccupied with the physical beauty around me. I observed the colors, form, and texture of anything I could see, feel or touch. Whether the beauty came in terms of a sunset, a golden back lit rack of antlers covered in golden velvet, or the beauty of an athlete's body in motion, every sense was excited. I wish I could say that this passion for beauty guided my energies into the world of art. However, it was not until my late thirties, and after a career in engineering and biology, that I begin to realize that the talents that I really desired to actualize were to be discovered in the world of fashion as a fashion photographer.
In my late thirties, I bought my first camera and began exploring the world of photography. I felt that the world of fashion would call on the talents and interest that I love experiencing. The world of fashion offered a dramatic stage to explore my appreciation of the human form, my need to fantasize and create, and my desire to seek adventure.
My education literally began on the streets of Los Angeles. I sought after information and technique where ever I could find it. I assisted photographers that I admired and then I would head to the modeling agencies begging models to shoot with me. After years of this regimen, I had the opportunity to show my work to the assistant art director of Italian Vogue who was in LA. He encouraged me to take the big leap and head off to Milan.
I arrived in Milan in 1984, not knowing a soul, with five-hundred dollars in my pocket with the determination to learn as much as possible during the next year. After weathering through many ups and downs, I was invited by Nodalli, the head art director of Italian Vogue, to shoot a four page editorial.
In 1985, I returned to the states with a strong portfolio in hand and began circulating it among art directors, designers, and magazines. During the years that followed, my work appeared in Vogue, Gentleman's Quarterly, and Cosmopolitan. In the LA market I developed a strong clientele in the sportswear market where I still focus my energies to this day.
After a number of great years in the industry, I decided in in 1996 to return some of my creative energy to those young kids that have chosen this profession for themselves. I was invited by The San Francisco Academy Of Art to teach in the upper division and graduate school. For three years I dedicated my energies and time in hopes to inspire, and educate students to fulfill their dreams by using my own personal experiences and skills as guidelines.
Of all the accomplishments that I have experienced in this industry during the last seventeen years, none rival the satisfaction that I experience when I see a past student's work show up in a magazine, or I receive a letter from Italy from a student indicating that they are there shooting on the streets with a desire to succeed......bravo!
In 1999, with my spirit full and creative energies renewed from the time teaching at the academy, I yearned to return to the commercial demands of the industry to experience the things that I love most about being a fashion photographer. The thrill of a new assignment, the creative challenges that lie ahead, the orchestration and design of the shooting, and the great fulfillment that I derive from creating an environment in which all creative types, art directors, models, make-up artist, stylist come together under the same roof to work toward a common goal in a sense of good cheer to share each other's creative talents and contributions.
When the day is finished, the project completed, my greatest intent, is that all involved in this creative experience, walk away with a sense of pride in what they contributed, a sense of satisfaction in working and sharing with each other: In totality, it was a very special day for all. If this is the tone of a shooting, I've found that over the years that everyone wins, everyone gains something of significant value, and the client walks away also with a little grin of satisfaction.
