I am self-taught in photography. Neither of the two colleges that I attended had at the time photography departments or even offered any photography courses. The closest I came to finding something related to my eventual profession were two art history courses and an economics class. But the lack of formal training never mattered to me because I was driven to find my own way in photography. Almost from the start I wanted to approach it from an artistic viewpoint instead of a purely commercial one. Had I taken academic courses I believe I would have been adversely affected.

Photography has fortuitously suited my lifestyle, being as I am creative, romantic, and not inclined to
follow any herd. The love and admiration I had for women when I began to photograph them so long ago
has only intensified through the years. I have been privileged to have met some wonderful, fascinating
women whom I have always tried to honor by photographing them with respect and dignity (and sometimes with a whimsical touch).

I still work only with film. I don't use digital cameras. I process all of my black-and-white film myself. And I produce all of my prints individually by hand in a traditional darkroom. Any handcoloring is done solely by me. I use no assistants in either my photography sessions or darkroom work. I am aware that photography has evolved into digital captures. I intend to resist that and remain a traditionalist with my old-fashioned darkroom. Just as handtinting died out long ago that is occurring now to film and darkroom processes. I am more of an artist than a commercial photographer so I will be one of those people who strives to keep traditional methods alive.  This resolve inadvertently helps set my work further apart from other photographers who are producing their images by digital methods.

Having started in the early 1970s photographing the nude in Savannah, GA, I consider myself now to be
a pioneer of professional fine art nude photography in the Southeastern United States; if not the entire Southeast, then in Georgia and most definitely the first in Savannah. I have researched this to some extent and have not been able to identify other professionals from my region photographing the artistic nude before the 1970s. In the area of handcolored nudes I also believe I pioneered that genre in this geographical part of the US. The style of portraiture I began in the early 1970s would today be classified as boudoir.

It has always been an incredibly difficult struggle to present artistic nude photographic imagery, notably in the Deep South where I am based. The South, and specifically Savannah, Georgia, has not been supportive of much of my artistic endeavors. I began creating my photography in the early 1970s in an unreceptive artistic environment. Few people had any concept of or encouragement for what I was starting to create. I accepted that then and now.

I gradually realized that most people did not even consider photography to be a valid art form although
that particular battle had been fought and won in New York and on the West Coast in the early decades
of the twentieth century. The news had seemingly not migrated to Savannah. Apparently what also clouded
the issue in terms of what I was doing was that the vast populace only equated photographic nudes with
the accessible newsstands men's magazines or worse. In my youthful naivete and enthusiasm I believed I
could alter public perception and make people aware of the genre of artistic nudes handprinted on paper.
But there were few local venues to exhibit in, and when such did arise the often subsequent battles were
puerile and ultimately wearing on me. I always tolerated a lot of abuse purely because I firmly believed in
what I was doing.

I found better acceptance away from Savannah in major national photography publications and art galleries in other cities. A lot of time and effort goes into those pursuits and I am a one-person operation without an agent or manager to assist me. In the last decade or so in Savannah there have been a few local galleries with owners who were not only willing to represent me but who supported my efforts with words of encouragement.

I live a life of an artist in a world I began creating apart from the general rat race when I was in my 20s. It has always been paramount to me to stay true to myself and not compromise my ideals. I am idealistic with a tendency to dream. I am a vegetarian who practices Buddhism. It should be apparent that I appreciate women and am dedicated to creating and preserving beauty using my cameras and darkroom techniques.

The type of photography I specialize in has frequently been misunderstood or maligned in our culture. I
believe I have become wise enough to know I will not be able to alter many people's already formed
perceptions. I can only hope to reach out and speak to those who understand the language I am using. I
shall always try to show those who want to see that life and love are the greatest gifts we possess. We tend
to lose sight so often when daily minutiae consumes us and materialistic culture surrounds us. I embrace
materialism to the extent that it is necessary to sustain or advance my work. Photography certainly
is not vital to the continuation of the world but I maintain that without any art to view, hear, touch,
contemplate that our mortal existence would be made more bleak than it often is for some.

I'm not very computer literate, but in keeping with my habit of solitary independence I have created this
website entirely by myself. I acknowledge my limitations.  Fortunately, my photography skills are light
years beyond my computer skills. This is, admittedly, not a slick or refined website but given my sparse
coding knowledge it has to suffice as my personal endeavor to present some of my life's work on the web;
I have intentionally made this site appear unlike most other professional artists' websites not only in design
but in content, particularly the text portion of it. With the remaining time I have left as a creative person I
would rather spend it making additional prints from my archives or doing more handcolored prints than
expanding my computer/website skills. And there is always one more model to meet and photograph.

 

To read some thoughts about my approach to photography and Life, please click here

To view some mostly informal candid photographs from my history, please click here.

To view information about the apartment I offer for rent, please click here.