Hi there, and thanks for visiting my website & blog. I’ve put this site together for two reasons. One was to have a place to post my photos, and make it easy for people to view and find them. The other is to share what I know about photography.

There are a lot of sites & blogs out there which endlessly review equipment and software. That’s not really my focus. While I will have a little discussion of those topics, my main focus is helping people make compelling photographs. Primarily, the blog entries will explore various aspects of what makes a great image, some discussion of photographs I’ve taken, and approaches to different challenges that photographers face. Most of the discussion will center around nature photography. But, I photograph a lot of people & products as well, and will cover those areas in time. I’ll also throw in some non-photography subject from time to time if I run across something interesting…

A little about me… while my formal education is in technology, photography has become more and more my focus in life. I’m happy to have found a creative outlet that I enjoy sharing. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. After college, I got a job in the heart of silicon valley. After a few years of that I was looking for a more relaxed place to live, and transferred to the Seattle area. Soon, I fell in love with the mountains and wilderness that is so close to Seattle. This led to quitting my “career”, and embarking on a couple long-distance hikes; both across the United States from border to border. First I hiked the length of the Pacific Crest Trail, through the mountains of California, Oregon and Washington. It was an incredible experience. I kept a journal, which you can read here. One long hike wasn’t enough though, and a couple years later, I took a similar trip along the length of the Continental Divide Trail. This trail closely follows the crest of the Rocky Mountains in the US, through the states of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. You can learn all about this trip here. Both of these trips were extremely rewarding on a number of levels. Among other things, being surrounded by the beauty of nature for 5 months at a time helped me hone my photography skills. I feel that it was these long hikes that helped me develop a vision for what works in nature photography; something I’ve been able to bring to other photographic subjects as well.

After the second hike, I had to get back to working (5 month long wilderness adventures might be a blast, but they don’t pay very well). Now, I do a mix of technical work and photography, based in the Portland, OR area. The advance of digital photography has proven this to be a complementary mix. I have a site all about my “people photography” here. I also offer a specialized product photography service – creating interactive photos. You can learn more about this here. I do still try to get outside for both short and long wilderness adventures from time to time. One of these was a hike across Iceland, which you can learn about here.

I hope you enjoy seeing my images, and reading about what I have to say. Thanks again for visiting!