Raised on a wheat and corn farm, which included some ranching, outside Moses Lake, Washington, I knew right away I wasn’t farmer material. Both parents were camera and photography enthusiasts. I remember as a kid drooling over the cameras in the mail order catalogs, while my friends were interested in toys.
My first “real” 35mm camera was a Ricoh FF-3 AF Super, an absolutely great camera. That camera rode in my cargo pocket, wrapped in a GI green wool sock most of my time served during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm 1990-1991.
As a kid, I remembered reading my Grandfather’s diary that he kept with him in WWII, and the pictures that went along with it. I knew that that’s what I was going to do before I even boarded the USS Schnectady on my way to Saudi Arabia with Okinawa’s 3rd Marine Division, 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion. I knew nothing of art or composition, but I somehow managed to take some decent photos of my time in the Middle East. The minefields and oil fires are my favorites, along with the liberation of Kuwait City and Kuwait International Airport. Special times!
After my four years of active duty in the Marine Corps., I worked mostly as a gun salesman and then later managed a large gun store in Kalispell, Montana. I was employed there for nine years, when the owner wanted to sell the store, and my health was on a serious and fast decline. I went to Fort Meade VA Hospital in South Dakota to get worked on, as an outpatient, for a year and a half. It is a great hospital for any Veterans not getting proper care elsewhere.
I’m now living in beautiful Marion, Montana with my dog, and enjoying my time, shooting pictures, learning about and playing photographer.
I’m colorblind, but somehow still enjoy color, along with composition in my photography. I praise Jesus for the opportunities of getting outside in the nature HE created and provided for us.
I can’t look at the cycle of life and see it coming from an explosion that somehow took place. The only thing created from an explosion is chaos. Nature is order. If the sun were closer or further away, we would freeze or burn up. Look at the four seasons and the weather changes, the way a tree will heal itself of a wound, or the human body. Evidence of God as the Creator is everywhere, it’s written on our conscious. My goal is to capture and share the beauty God has bestowed upon us, and to be a slave to and for Jesus, my Savior.
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