I was born and spent the early part of my life in Boston.  My sister and I were fortunate to have great parents and an active family - boating, fishing, camping, vacations and daytrips were normal for us. 

Once every few years, my father used to set up a giant screen and dig out the old trays of photo slides and the projector so he could show off memories.  Images of Disney, Bermuda, Florida, Niagara Falls and many other places were shown to the entire family.   Not only did the pictures include images of family and friends, but my father loved to take pictures of flowers.  If memory serves me right, we even had a few of them framed and they graced the walls of the apartment hallway.   I have his Pentax 35mm camera on display in my home studio and I will treasure it always.

As a teenager, I was exposed to two more things that would combine later in life into my passion for photography. The first was being exposed to the world of art in many ways.   I was involved in a program at Boston Latin School that was funded by the National Endownment for the Arts (NEA).  This tied all of my subjects into one connecting theme based on the arts (if we were studying architecture in history class, we also covered it in Spanish, Latin and other courses).   The program also allowed me to take an art class every day, instead of twice a week like the normal curriculum.  While at Latin School, I was a quick walk from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, which I regularly frequented.  The bus stop was adjacent to the Massachusetts College of Art, so I was exposed to artists and different methods of expression everyday.   Those days really opened my eyes. 

Also as a teen, I joined the Boy Scouts.  Scouting showed me ways to love and respect the world around me, whether that be in the woods or in the city.

After we fled to the suburbs, I started at a new school, and upon graduation, my parents presented me with a Pentax K1000 camera.   This was a whole new experience for me.  Manual focus, adjusting shutter speeds and timings were a far cry different from the 110 film camera (or more likely a disk camera!) that I had been used to using.  

I took the camera all around Easton, shooting nature, livestock, signs and landmarks.  I quickly gained a love for black and white film (remember film?) and spent a lot of time exclusively shooting in b&w.  That following summer I was taking a vacation to volunteer as an adult leader at summer camp with my Scout troop.  I had the camera with me on Friday afternoon, and planning on packing the next day, I left it in the back seat of the car, snug in a case.  I couldn't wait to chronicle the summer camp adventure. Well, the next morning, we discovered that someone had broken into my car and stolen my stereo (this thing NEVER happens in my neighborhood!).  After a quick inspection, I realized that my camera kit - camera, case and all, was also gone.  I wasn't so much worried about the camera, that was replacable.  Inside the case was about 12 rolls of my black and white film that I hadn't gotten to developing yet - memories that could never be replaced.  After that, photography was reduced to picture taking - snapshots of vacations, friends, family and the like.  I completely fell away from artistic photography.  

I now regret losing the interest in the artistic side of it, because as I look back, the chances to take awesome pictures were so great.  Three trips to New Orleans - instead of showcasing the architecture of St. Louis Cathedral, I was on Bourbon Street taking pictures that I'll never show on here.  Weekend trips through NY & NJ and not a single image of the World Trade Center or the view from the Empire State Building.  That all changed a couple of years ago when I discovered the beauty of digital. 

My first digital camera was a Kodak, which died tragically on Thanksgiving 2008.   It had 5.1 megapixels (low by today's standards) but took incredible pictures, which is why I used it until it gave out.  I had moved to New Bedford with my fiancee Kelly, and had recently lost my job.  While unemployed, I passed the time between job hunting and interviews with photography.   I had the camera, a computer, and a memory card, so wouldn't cost me anything except gas in the car!  With no film to purchase, I set out to discover the south coast of Massachusetts.  I took pictures across the Route 6 corridor - from Fall River to the Cape Cod Canal.   Photography was a way to get me out of the house and to discover my new surroundings.  

The following summer, Kelly and I were going on vacation to the cabin at Moosehead Lake, Maine, and I decided that the Kodak wasn't going to do it any longer - I needed an upgrade.  I researched the web, magazines, stores, and decided that a Canon Digital Rebel XTi was my perfect camera.   I have grown so attached to this camera, that I jokingly call it my "first born". 

I started showing my images to family, friends, and co workers, and everyone said I had a "good eye for composition".  I set about 20 images of mine onto my screen saver at work and caught numerous people stopping to check it out and ask questions about the pictures, which leads me to the website - a place where I can direct people to so they can experience my images and see in them what I saw when I snapped the shutter and hopefully see something more.