Early in my career, I was a fine art photographer and photographer for national magazines including Time, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated and the New York Times Magazine. During this time I won several significant awards for my work (e.g. New York Art Directors show, Dallas Art Directors show). I was then living in the South, and photographing civil rights demonstrations formed a large portion of my assignments.
Although I enjoyed the pace and excitement of magazine
photography, fine art photography finally won out; I got my MFA in photography
and printmaking and was recruited by the Atlanta College of Art to be Chairman
of their department of photography, where I taught for six years.
Although I was passionate about fine art photography and
teaching, deep spiritual interests also competed for my attention, and I
decided to step away from photography and teaching to turn my focus to
meditation and introspection. I sold or
gave away my cameras and darkroom equipment and moved into an ashram, where I
stayed for six years as I contemplated where and how I wanted to live.
Fast forward over several exciting and productive careers to
now, where I’m finally able to return to making art again – this time as a
painter. No longer restricted by the rigid
frame of the camera and by what’s in front of the lens, I now get to make it
all up as I go along! Instead of the restrictive 35mm or 2 ¼ x 2 ¼ or 4x5 camera formats and lenses, I get to
choose from an infinite selection of canvases, papers, colors, brushes, paints…
and I can just play.
So what you’ll continue to see from me is the result of many
years of experience making and teaching art combined with a new spirit of
playful indulgence. My inspiration and
role models are the 1950’s abstract expressionists; I look to them for their
spirit of exploration, and the courageous way they took chances and created
works that no one had seen before.