On March 31^st, I DID IT!   After 30 years, I decided to retire from my regular job as a Software Engineer.  At the beginning of my career, I was full of passion for the computer software field.  At that time, software was still a new field of engineering.  Being very logical, analytical, and creative; software was the perfect fit for me. During the first 10 years I absolutely loved it, especially the creative aspect of designing complex software programs. I remember many times while in the middle of designing and coding a complex program I would suddenly have an epiphany! I realized by adding some new software logic, function, or a new bell & whistle that I could save many hours of our customer's (or my own) time or simply make the program more robust and reliable.  I developed software for command & control systems that fly military target drones, so reliability translates into safety, which was critical!  I would work on such endeavors day and night, whatever it took, to get the job done... it was truly a passion!  However, after about 10 years of developing software I took a position as the software manager and eventually the Director of Software Engineering for the company. I slowly and reluctantly veered away from the technical side of software engineering and played an increasingly administrative role.  At first, I enjoyed it, but eventually that passion disappeared, and constantly dealing with the typical kind of managerial issues took its toll on me and my creativity.  

The photos you see on this page are a few of my early images (when I didn't know what I was doing!). They are the ones that really stoked my passion for nature photography and I credit for taking me down this incredible journey!

So, in 2005, I needed to find an outlet; something to get me back to my childhood passion of nature and the outdoors. I always had an interest in photography (back in the film days), so why not return to the camera, find adventure outdoors, and shoot nature! I purchased a Canon 30D with a Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens (no kit lenses for me!) and I was instantly hooked! Once again, I had a creative outlet and it got me back in touch with nature and stomping through the woods looking for critters.  I found myself getting up early in the morning - even during the weekends!  Soon I was mastering the camera and exposures and I looked for any opportunity to get out to enjoy my newly discovered passion.  Just like buying new shoes for your child; I quickly outgrew my camera equipment and needed an upgrade but it was difficult to justify the cost of another camera and the multiple lens I so desired. New Toys, Right?!  With the encouragement of family and friends (challenge accepted!!) I decided to try selling some of my photos to see if I could muster up enough funds to buy by the new equipment.  Our first show was a booth at the Navarre Fun Fest in 2010.   Although, our booth looked a little “rough around the edges” we managed to sell enough to make a few hundred dollars… Wow! People were actually interested in purchasing my photos! Unbelievable-and totally encouraging!  We began applying  to other local art shows, eventually upgraded our tent, and before you know it, I had enough for my camera upgrade and suddenly we had a photography business.

Fast forward to 2017. My passion for photographing nature is still as strong as ever.  With every year our photography business has grown,  I found myself being torn between the “regular” job and the “other” job (my photography).  I was working more hours between the two “jobs” than ever and the pressure was building! My wife (Angelique) was working nearly full time managing the administrative responsibilities of our growing photography business on top of managing our family – we were both at our limit as we couldn’t add any more hours to a 24hr day! I had to let go of one of the ropes that I was holding and grab on to just one, with BOTH hands!  Looking at our situation, I realized how blessed we were that we even have the option of perusing my passion as a job.  A job that allows me to do what I love even though the hours are still just as long.   I pondered and prayed on this for a long time and the answer was always the same - my future was in nature and landscape photography. Since retiring I have completely revamped my website, started teaching workshops, adding more art shows, learning drone photography, and will begin offering commercial photography services.  I also plan on traveling more to expand my portfolio of images. In other words, I’ve been working my butt off!... and enjoying every minute of it!

March 31^st was the last day of my old life and the first day of the rest my life….. Bring…It…On!!!