It started with the sound of a camera shutter.
As a young man, I was watching a commercial about a photoshoot when the shutter of the camera stopped me in my tracks. I turned to a friend and said, “That’s what I want to do.” I received my first camera in 1973 as a birthday present. It all just made sense to me—aperture, shutter, film speed. I took a few photography classes the following year, and from there the passion only grew. I was never without a camera in my hand.
My interest in photography was also shaped by my father’s and brothers’ military careers. I grew up paying attention to wweorld events and the photographs in the newspapers were something I saw every day. I wanted to become an Army photographer, but when the time came, I was told that because of a heart condition I was born with I couldn’t serve in the military.
My passion for photography didn’t end there— rather it shifted. Around 1983, I began working at a photo lab in San Francsico, where I was a black-and-white printer for artist Harry Donald Jones. I eventually began working as a journeyman building engineer in Embarcadero Center where I began getting gigs shooting corporate events, weddings, and more. But I found myself drawn less to the glamour of San Francisco and more to its grit. The streets, the people, the overlooked corners of the city. My experience photographing larger events gave me the courage to approach people, talk to them, and ask permission to capture a moment of their lives.
I don’t really consider myself a street photographer. I like to say that I’m a life photographer. Whatever catches my attention, whatever makes me stop, whatever story feels worth remembering—I photograph it. For most of my life, that meant shooting film. I love film because its never perfect. It simply stops time and shows life just as it is in that moment. Today, I shoot digital as well, especially when the light isn’t right for film, but the purpose has never changed:
to document life as it happens.
I’ve also always been drawn to veterans. My father served in the Army in both Vietnam and Korea, and my brothers served in Vietnam. Today, photographing veterans is my way of honoring them. When folks are willing, I listen to their stories and take their portrait.
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Some more about me— As an Army brat we lived all around the country and the world. We settled in the Monterey Bay, California where I attended junior college. I was recruited to San Francisco State to play baseball (my other passion) and stayed in the SF bay area afterwards. I spent 40 years as a journeyman building engineer and retired in 2020. Today, I still reside in the East Bay with my wife of 27 years. With the freedom of retirement, (and when I’m not walking the streets of San Francisco with my camera) I enjoy visiting my three daughters, stepson, and six grandchildren who live in different parts of the country.
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What started with the sound of a shutter has become a way of seeing the world—and a way of connecting with the people in it. Because everyone has a story. Sometimes, you just have to stop long enough to see it.
