I've been in photography for over 50 years and had an interest in it back to the late '50s. Taught photography at the Indianapolis Free University for 12 years from 1976 to around 1988, and continued at a couple of other places until 1991. Have been selling my work at juried Art fairs for the last 23 years, and do between 8 and 16 per summer. If you think critiques are tough, listen to the general public sometimes :)

My approach to Art photography is eclectic, content ranges from droll satire with GI Joe, Barbie, and Ken, up to serious metaphysically oriented work rooted in the Symbolist movement from the 19th century. Stieglitz's Photo-Secessionist group was part of that same movement.

My past sins include about 25 years of weekend warrior work doing weddings. Around 12 years ago, I finally said it would be a cold day in hell before I'd do another wedding. I still do an occasional one if I can't slither out of it. Bad habits are still there for I feel uncomfortable at other people's weddings if I don't have a heavy camera and big flash in my left hand. Must have been an addiction of some sort.

I know how to do the hard core technical sharp commercial stuff (did it for years), but the preference is for alternative process photography; gum prints, Van Dyke brown, cyanotypes, and Quik-Print process in multiple colors. I still do wet B&W work, but now do the color work on the PC. One of my goals is to work with 4 color printing in the gum process.

I'm currently using an Epson V700 flat bed scanner, a Konica-Minolta Scan Dual IV film scanner and 5400II, an Epson Stylus 4900 17 inch printer just recently acquired in April, an Epson R1800 that is just about worn out from heavy use, an Epson 7600 24" printer, and a couple of Canon iP4300 letter size printers that are double sided printers. The fun part includes working with different types of paper media in my printers, including rough textured "real" watercolor paper and hand-made papers.

Camera gear includes a Sigma SD10 and an SD14 with Sigma 15-30, 18-50, and 50-200 zooms with a newly acquired fixed 30mm/f1.4 prime lens. Sitting back gathering dust is a Maxxum 7000 with several lenses, a couple of Yashicamat 124 TLR 120 format cameras, and a couple of Mamiya C330f TLR with almost the full set of lenses. There's some oddities sitting back that get dragged out now and then. A current favorite is a walkabout camera, a Fuji E550 that has proven to be a smooth picture taker that has surprised me pleasantly more tham once. The Fuji is still used ocasionally, but has been supplanted with a Canon G9 that has become the most heavily used camera I have.

Some of the projects I'm working on are hand-made books, and once the mechanics of making those are ironed out, I plan to start making self-published hand-made books of my photowork and poetry. Some of that you'll see on Artsig ;-) My other photo work is on here at Artsig.

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