I have been attracted to beauty and art as far back as I can remember, having worked professionally as a photographer for approaching twenty five years - and previously I was taking pictures as a hobby for 20 years. In college, I played the piano in a rock band and then I graduated with degrees in economics and business administration, before becoming a Naval Aviator and landing jets on aircraft carriers.
My father, a graduate of the Horton School at the University of Pennsylvania was a very good photographer in his own right. He showed me how to make a black and white print in his darkroom when I was in college, and I then began taking pictures of my girlfriends.
In the 1980s I started taking photography more seriously I studied the books of Ansel Adams, The Camera, The Negative and The Print. They gave me a good foundation for the fundamentals. In about 1985, I bought a Hasselblad ELX. I used that camera exclusively for twenty five years. I loved the Carl Zeiss lenses. I knew every spring and lever on it. I did my own repair on lenses, main springs and effectively rebuilt it three or four times by hand. Around 2001, I added a computer to my process and about 2006 I started using a Cannon 5D.
I became Vice President of a small airline in the 1970s, and later a management consultant for a private firm. I used the same principles working with clients for photography as I had used in management - help the client, define the objective, develop a plan, and follow through.
It is my own opinion that you get the best results with people with positive motivation. At the completion of a shoot, a subject should more enthused and confident than at the start. I only give compliments, never criticism. If I want to change a pose I suggest something positive. I have never used the words, “That looks terrible, never do that”.
The first picture that an aspiring odel does to try and start a career, may be just as important to her, as one that another model is doing for her tenth magazine cover.