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  “Photojournalist”
is one of those strange titles that few people really understand. In
its simplest form, a photojournalist tells stories with photographs,
but that is only part of it. I also write, interview, and photograph
my subjects to understand where they've come from and where they hope
to go in life.
When
I undertake a photojournalism assignment, I undoubtedly shoot film,
but I also gather story information for my clients. This has a two-fold
purpose. First, a good story gives weight and meaning to photos and
helps them to be seen more in a contextual framework. Second, a good
story gives my subjects in the photographs greater dignity and humanity.
In short, people become more than just nameless faces on film.
I
bought my first camera more than 25 years ago and now, a quarter century
later, the joy of creating a powerful image is still as exhilarating
as those first simple, somewhat soft-focused photos I shot in my front
yard.
There
is something about a “moment frozen in time” that is in itself
timeless. Photographs are memory and remembrance – windows on life
and the world around us, which reveal the best and worst of what we
are as humans. I have seen much of both. Photographs also reveal much
about the photographer himself. I hope you can see that in the images
I share with you.
Life
has held much privilege for me, but not as most people count privilege
in terms of prestige and wealth. I have been privileged with gifts;
the gifts of seeing and experiencing the world and its peoples and a
gift for photographing faces, lives, events and recording stories that
few ever seek among the media din of society. These are privileges I
could never have bought or inherited.
I
made my first overseas trip to Haiti in 1982, which both shocked and
motivated me in my future work as a photojournalist. I had never seen
poverty like that before.
My
wife and I moved to Bangkok, Thailand, in 1986 where I worked as a photojournalist
for World Concern for more than three years. Since then, my assignments
have taken me around the world into Asia, Africa and South America to
more than 45 countries. My most recent assignments have been to Bangladesh,
Thailand, Mongolia, Kenya, Rwanda and Afghanistan, in the wake of the
events of September 11, 2001.
I
attended the University of Missouri-Columbia where I earned a Bachelors
of Journalism degree in 1993 with a major in Photojournalism, graduating
Cum Laude.
Some
of my clients include Boeing Museum of Flight, AGROS, World Concern,
World Impact Network, U.S. Navy, and the National Geographic Society.
I can do a great job for you and/or your organization. Give me a call
or contact me via email and we can talk about what your photographic
needs are.
My
wife, Leslie, and I live in Seattle, Washington, with our two children.
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