Self portrait, Kiev, Ukraine, 2010.

I began photographing with a gift-camera at the age of 16. It wasn't until my last year of college that a class with Willie Osterman stimulated my interest in photography as a career. During Spring break he took several students to visit Ansel Adams, tour his home and darkroom and have our portfolios critiqued. It was a watershed experience.

After college I apprenticed for several years in a commercial photography studio in Portland. Several more years later I was hired by a Japanese publishing firm, the only foreign staff photographer photographing throughout northern Japan. My assignments ranged from Norway to Kyoto, Japan. In 1995 I moved back to Portland and opened a studio, specializing in any work that would fit through my studio door, and striving to accommodate just about everything else.

Eventually I came to specialize in architectural, portrait and photo-reproduction work. Today I also work on the side as an elections monitor for Europe's OSCE, traveling to various countries in central and far eastern Europe. It dovetails beautifully with my love of photographing foreign cultures; the work allows me glimpses of life that are beyond the view of most travelers.