PhotoBiography
My story starts with a camera, a Minolta SRT 101, I bought during military service in Japan. Life in Japan was as important to the development of my photography as the camera itself. I practiced Zazen and studied Zen Buddhism and Taoism while learning photography. I found a new path for my life then and it's pretty much the same path I'm on today.
I attended Syracuse University on the G.I Bill. On my way to earning my Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Psychology, I selected several courses in photography from the Newhouse School of Public Communications -- Journalism and the School of Art that included color & b+w printing techniques. I also completed courses in the graduate school for experimental psychology specializing in visual perception.
I learned that Zen Practice, Psychology and Photography share common ground.
I accepted a position as an Instructor of Photography at the State University of New York/Tompkins-Cortland. A year later I became the Director of PhotoVisions Gallery, a photographer's cooperative gallery in Syracuse. As director, I was responsible for the curation of eight photography exhibits during my term of office.
I had an exhibition of twenty color photographs at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, N.Y. Photographs from that exhibit were entered into the museums permanent collection.
After the Everson exhibit I decided to pursue photography as full time career and opened a studio. I was interested in art and still life photography so I created a portfolio and dropped it off at local advertising agencies. My first assignment from one of those agencies aired on television in New York for several months.
With early success in advertising photography in Syracuse, I decided to 'go with the flow' and move to Southern California to open a studio specializing in commercial product and food photography, for local, national and international clients.* My work was used in annual reports, television and magazine advertising, brochures and trade show displays and on packaging. I won awards on several occasions for advertising photography by ADDOC... the Art Directors and Designers of Orange County, at their annual awards banquets.
In national competition I won the Gold Award for Magazine Photograph of the year for a double page spread appearing in Orange Coast Magazine. A feature length article on my work including photographs and my working methods ran nationally in Studio Photography & Design Magazine.
While working as a full time commercial photographer, I continued to create new artwork, exhibiting in twenty - five shows in the U.S. and Canada. I'm excited about the new images I've captured in the past few months. They could be the foundation for my next exhibit.
*A Partial Client list:
Allergan, Apple Macintosh, Avis, Beatrice Hunt-Wesson, Bentley Mills, Breyers, Coca Cola, Del Mar Avionics, FireTrac, F.X. Matt Brewing Co., ICN Pharmaceuticals, Ingram Micro, Knudsen, Lawry's, Marathon, Inc., Philips Electronics, Ocean Pacific (Swimwear), Orange Coast Magazine, Quantum Health Resources, Taco Bell, TRW (Northrop Grumman).