I first need to give a credit to my loving wife; the times when I go on photo shoots while she stays home are lonely. When she gets to go along she's always willing to help. In either case she's been behind my dream 100% from day one. She knows the disappointment of a shot lost and the excitement of the one captured and shows care and understanding through it all.
I can still remember the excitement of owning my first 35mm camera over 25 years ago and taking a High School photography class. The idea of being able to capture a moment of time and record it on film fascinated me. I can also remember quite clearly the disappointment when the lady behind the counter told me there was no charge for the processing of my first roll of film as there were no pictures, just blank film.
While the photography class did indeed teach me how to operate the camera as well as developing and printing B&W prints, I actually struggled in that class. Taking a picture was easy enough and the darkroom processing great fun, the problem was my own vision and goals for a photograph. There wasn't a passion for a particular subject or an eye for a great image.
Over the years that passion has came about in the form of photographing wildlife & our great outdoors. Its taken many years to develop and master both the technical issues of using a camera professionally as well as gaining a deep respect and admiration of nature and its wild inhabitants.
The Midwest has been and remains my home, Iowa isn't known for it's grand vistas nor it's prolific wildlife hotspots but it is here that my informal nature training began. The open rural areas, rolling hills and change of seasons became my focus for the camera and myself. I now travel with camera in hand (actually many bags!) to picturesque locations across the country for awe-inspiring landscapes and places where man & wildlife are at ease with each other.
It is in these places and moments when nature puts on a show that is the basis for Expressions of Nature Photography.