I bought a Nikon FM with a 50mm lens at 20 years old and traveled through Europe for 6 weeks. By that time I was completely taken over by photography. I had grown up watching my mother paint canvases, design logos and illustrate promo pieces. Here, finally, was a way for me to be an artist too.

In '83, I received my BA in International Studies and went to North Africa for four months on an internship, stopping in Paris for another two weeks before reluctantly returning to the states. I had various jobs throughout the 80's to support my photography/travel habit; working as a seafood processor in Alaska, a telemarketing rep for Microsoft and an export tech for a freight forwarder. During those years I attended as many photography workshops as I could and worked in my darkroom. I married in '88, moved to Switzerland, had two children and moved back to the states in '94.

I love working with photographs because they make people see in ways that moments connected in time can't. Life moves so fast around us that it's hard to stop and take something in. I'm drawn to the unique ability of photography to pull moments and objects out of time and space, making them available to us, slowing things down to a still frame that we can gaze into.