ABOUT ME
The details of my life are inconsequential...
Growing up in the midwest, I first picked up a 'real' camera in my second year attending art school at Illinois Wesleyan University. I instantly knew I had found an essential tool, fundamental to my self-expression. A lifelong cinephile, I emulated (not very well) filmmakers I admired: Kubrick, Fellini, Lynch, the Coens and after a few years, armed with a new degree and no shortage of chutzpah, went out into the world ready to dazzle.
Turns out there wasn't high demand for wedding pictures resembling Eraserhead. Or if there was, it was a pretty small demographic and not in rural Illinois. I recognized that I might be underprepared (and maybe not properly wired) for a life as a commercial photographer.
So therefore, after a few years of high-volume product photography that was, for me, uninspiring, I picked up, moved to Arizona and pivoted into a 9 to 5 in the finance sector to pay the bills. The cameras stayed in their bags in the closet...
For 25 years.
Enter my son, then in the Army and living in the Pacific Northwest. He had taken an interest in photography and was showing his mom and I a lot of his work, which was quite good. I offered, as one does, some helpful pointers and offered all my dusty old film gear if he was interested, since film has this artisanal, hipster-y mystique the youngsters seem to love, and they're willing to do a lot of extra work to indulge it. He was happy to get to mess around with the old Nikon and Hassy (although at great cost - film, especially medium format, is just not a poor man's game today). I, however, was more interested in how excellent modern cameras had become. Our chats started sparking that dormant part of myself that felt most alive looking through the viewfinder and I found myself researching mirrorless camera platforms and looking for sales.
A year later, new shooter in hand, I am loving the process of making personal work again. After all, I live in the only part of the world where saguaros grow and where the sunsets generally slap. My wife and I are also fortunate to take frequent trips to the equally and differently beautiful emerald forests of the Pacific Northwest to visit our son and his family. And, importantly, I am no longer burdened by youthful ego or pressure to impress.
So, then, this site represents a test for myself. A retry of the artist's path I, abandoned too young, when I was simultaneously overconfident and too easily discouraged. I hope you like some of what you find here, but it's ok if you don't.
Either way I'm glad you're here.
-John