I started taking pictures in 1969 using an Olympus point and shoot camera after I set off for my B. Sc. degree in geology and mining engineering at the University of Nevada - Reno. I'd photograph the scenery as I made my way across the US from the eastern shore of Maryland where I grew up to Reno, Nevada where I went to school. I'd take a different route each way in the fall and spring, so that I could get to see as much of the US as possible, yet keep the trip as short as possible. I would backpack with friends in Death Valley National Monument or somewhere in the Inyo Mountains of CA during Spring break. I got to see big horn sheep, bristle cone pines, abandoned mines from the late 1890s, remains of a crashed bomber from WWII, and a lot of other unique things I took photos of.

I got my M. Sc. in geology from Northeast Louisiana University in Monroe, LA in 1975. I continued taking photos while doing field work in the Batesville area of Arkansas and while enjoying the wildlife and surroundings near Monroe.

After getting my M. Sc., I joined the Peace Corps (1975) and spent 3 years (1.5 each) in Ecuador and Costa Rica. I learned Spanish in Quito, Ecuador and taught university geology classes at the Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral in Guayaquil. I got to see and photograph a lot of countryside, cities, fiestas, beaches, jungle, trains and trucks across Ecuador - from the coast in Salinas to the jungles in the Oriente. In San Jose, Costa Rica I taught at the Universidad de Costa Rica. I sometimes assisted other professors in their field work - measuring the temperature of steam coming from vents in the bottom of Poas and Arenal volcanoes, collecting former mid-ocean ridge chert samples on the Nicoya Peninsula, etc. My trips across many parts of Costa Rica, into Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Panama added to my photo collection and experiences.

I pursued my Doctor of Geological Sciences degree at the University of Texas at El Paso, where I completed class work, field work and related sampling and analysis during 1978 and 1979. I wrote my dissertation while working full time for Texaco Latin America/West Africa in Coral Gables, FL and received my DGSD in 1984. My exploration geology and geophysics work took me to the Peten region of Guatemala, Cartagena Colombia, Buenos Airies Argentina, The Bahamas, Mauritania, Senegal, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Angola, Portugal, and the UK. I got to see a lot of the arm pits of the world, contracted two different strains of malaria and almost died from the second one while being recorded as the first known victim of that variety (common in the East Africa rift basins) in Nigeria. I still suffer from some of the side effects.

Subsequently, I worked with various Texaco companies in Indonesia, allowing my wife an I to visit many parts of it, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Hong Kong. We added a two week trip around Turkey and a later three week trip to Antarctica via Argentina. I thus reached having set foot on all 7 continents.

I left Chevron in 2002 after its purchase of Texaco, and was subsequently hired in 2003 to teach at The Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. My wife and I managed to visit many places in the UAE - fantastic desert, mountains, old villages, and nice people. The location allowed us to take advantage of the short distance to Europe to start our exploration of the continent. We've seen a lot by doing river cruises, train rides and sometimes driving. As a matter of fact, we're going back for another cruise this summer. We added three week trips to South Africa and Namibia in 2004 and 2005. We moved to Doha, Qatar in Sept. 2007 where I worked as Head of Data Management for the Gas Development Dept. at Qatar Petroleum until Jan. 2015. Consequently, we got see a lot of Qatar, went to Oman, The Maldives, and back to Europe for many trips.

I'm glad that my education and work enabled me to see the world, experience many cultures, eat many fantastic foods, meet some really nice and some really horrible people, and allowed me to capture many images from around the world. I photograph whatever strikes my fancy at the moment, but spend more time taking pictures of the countryside, people in their environment, buildings and details of architecture. I'm starting to dabble in macro-photography.

I'm not a fantastic professional photographer but just a reasonably good advanced amateur with a unique eye for seeing things a lot of people glance over.