AN EASTERNER BY BIRTH BUT A CALIFORNIAN BY CHOICE. I SERVED IN THE U.S. ARMY FOR THIRTY YEARS - MOSTLY IN THE INFANTRY - BUT I HAD SEVERAL STINTS AS A WRITER. I WAS THE EDITOR OF SEVERAL MILITARY NEWSPAPERS AND I ALSO HAD THE HONOR OF BEING A CONTRIBUTING CORRESPONDENT TO STARS AND STRIPES - THE EUROPEAN EDITION. AFTER THE MILITARY I BECAME A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER IN SAN BERNARDINO, CALIFORNIA. WHEN I RETIRED FROM THAT PROFESSION I BECAME A WILDLIFE ARTIST DOING SAND BLASTED ETCHING AND FOR THE PAST FIVE YEARS I'VE DABBLED IN BEING A FREELANCE PHOTO JOURNALIST. EVERY ONE OF MY VOCATIONS HAVE BEEN FUN - SOME MORE THAN OTHERS
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This page was last updated on: April 24, 2008
What better image to include on a web page but our National Bird.... nearby Moorpark College has an animal course teaching students how to handle and treat animals .... they all came from the wild either sick or injured. I was intrigued by this majestic eagle's eyes. Notice the eyelid sliding front to rear as opposed to humans which go up and down. Since taking this I've learned that many birds have this trait.
Some of the fun of photography is the ability to add some whimsey to the shots. I called this picture "Has anyone here seen Adam and Eve?" Nonsensical but fun
All of the above water splash shots were the result of a project I labored on for many weeks. The water shots took over three thousand attempts (Thank God for digital) and there were a lot of mistakes... but I loved doing it and now I'm working on a double splash in two glasses at the same time. If it works I'll post them later this year.
After my many splashes using water I decided that maybe another liquid would be better so I bought a gallon of milk.... do you realize how expensive that stuff is? It worked fine and I only had to shoot two thousand of these. I then decided to try motor oil.... a bad choice. The viscosity prevents ANY splashing. As soon as I can get a co-signer I'll try chocolate milk.
Another bit of whimsey.... I get many of my product photography ideas from my dreams at night. I rigged this shot with the obvious can of sardines, some sand and some shells from the local Califiornia beaches. The hook was a local purchase and because I could not seem to "dig up" any worms I made this one out of rolled clay and brown paint. No animals were harmed in the making of this picture.
Another example of God's artistry... this jelly fish lives at the Scripps Aquarium
As you may have guessed, I'm intrigued with shooting water in motion. This shot caught the drop reflecting some local light and colors.
Another strong passion of mine is shooting wildlife subjects. This Elephant Seal is part of the herd found at Piedra Blancas near Cambria on the California coast. Hundreds of them migrate annually to the area to mate and give birth. A great sight. This young male has not developed his snout fully yet but he will... it's where the name comes from.
Whenever I decide to revise my homepages I'm always in a quandary over what to "lead" with. In this case I chose these eyegrabbing stem glasses. That's only my opinion, of course. You decide.
I live on the West Coast and recently we had a surge of gigantic waves. They were pounding the pier in Ventura but fortunately the damege was negligible.
They say (whoever "they" are) that only fools and jewelers should open the back of a watch.... so I bought this old junker for a dollar... it was already opened.
One of my passions is macro photography. This little picnic spoiler was on a flower I was shooting so I decided to get out my 100mm lens and add him to the pile.
These beauties are exemplary of the wildfowl found in the coastal area nearby.
This busy bee was pollinating a magnolia when I got the nerve to approach him. I was NOT stung
I caught this little guy littering the beach at Piedras Blancas.... no, he didn't really litter it. But some slob DID.
Another example of the avian beauty in the area... this was taken at the Malibu Lagoon
Recently I decided to explore the world of infra-red photography. I was given an old Canon 630 film camera and I purchased a Hoya filter. Finding film was tough but I located a supplier in Los Angeles and I was off and running... sort of.
These images aren't EXACTLY the way IR shooting is supposed to be but it was the first of many tiny steps in this endeavor. With the able assistance of several photographers I met on the internet and a lot of Googling I'm slowly learning. I'll keep trying.
Check below for some of my more recent shots.
All of the above pictures were shot in the Santa Barbara, Thousand Oaks and or Camarillo areas using a Fuji IS 1 digital camera. As you might guess I really enjoy working with infra-red.
These images aren't EXACTLY the way IR shooting is supposed to be but it was the first of many tiny steps in this endeavor. With the able assistance of several photographers I met on the internet and a lot of Googling I'm slowly learning. I'll keep trying.
