My love of photography began when I bought my first 35mm SLR camera at a PX on a military base in Vietnam back in 1967. I used that trusty camera to record my 13-month experience there. For a few years afterwords, I continued to capture life with my SLR until someone decided that they had a greater need for it than I did and broke into my car. Losing that camera felt like losing a part of my soul. It wasn’t long after that minor trauma that I decided to seriously pursue photography. So, in 1974, while engaged in a full-time career in retail advertising, I enrolled as a part-time student at Columbia College Chicago, There, I studied the history of photography and how it developed into an art form. I learned how to see the world in shades of gray through the medium of black & white film. I learned about the magic of chemistry and how to manipulate silver gelatin in the darkroom. I learned about esoteric color processes such as dye sublimation. I learned about the differences between good and bad composition. I learned that a cohesive body of work requires a well-developed preconception of that body of work. And, finally, it was there that I learned that the B.A. degree I earned in 1978, was merely a first step toward my photographic goals. In the hiatus between then and now, I raised a family, established my own marketing communications firm and co-founded Perspective Group and Photography Gallery, a not-for-profit cooperative of fine art photographers located in Evanston, Illinois, where I continue to be an active member.