So you want to know a little about me...well OK.

I was born in Southern California to parents that were lovers of the outdoors. We traveled all over California from the ocean to the deserts and on to the mountains. Since both of my parents had roots in the Midwest we often traveled cross country by car during the summer months. Fortunately this was a time before portable video games and DVD players so I was able to gain a knowledge and appreciation of our awesome country. After returning from our trips we would get together with my relatives and watch slides of the trip. That was always something I looked forward to as a youngster.

You see, my dad was an avid amateur photographer. He seemed to always have a camera in his hand, sometimes a still camera and at other times a movie camera. One day he even bought a Polaroid, he was an early techno-geek, and we were able to see the magic of a photograph coming to life right before our eyes. Well that did it for me, my interest in photography was born.

I developed my first roll of film as a young teenager, used the darkroom facilities in Vietnam (between time spend out in the field) and, after Vietnam, worked in the photography department at Santa Ana Community College. I built a darkroom in the garage and would spend all the time I could taking pictures, developing film and making prints. It was a magical time.

The start of a career in IT took me away from my darkroom and I transitioned from black and white to color. But I missed the creative control that one has with black and white.

Fast forward to the early 2000’s when digital came of age. I started doing panoramas with an early point and shoot when I decided it was SLR time again. That’s when the floodgates reopened with the virtual limitless possibilities.

One thing lead to another. The first D-SLR, a Canon Digital Rebel, was replaced with a Canon 20D and then recently a Canon 5D was added to the mix. The assortment of lenses grew along the way as well. With digital, processing went from the darkroom to the computer and since I’d been working with computers for a few decades it didn’t take long to get an efficient digital workflow.

My day job continues to be in the IT industry but much of my free time is spent pursuing what I truly enjoy doing: photographing, reading about photography, photoshopping and even working on my photography web site.

I hope you find some joy as you look through the galleries. Please sign the Guestbook and also add your name to my mailing list.

Thanks for coming.

Roger

Little Cedar Spirit Tree 1338