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Welcome to my photography Portfolio. I have been involved in photography for about 40 years. I started out building my own darkroom starting with a contact box and curtains, then, I built it up from there. During high school, I took photography classes and shot photos of ROTC (reserved officers training corp) cadets to help pay for my photography supplies that I needed to take more pictures. My photography instructor liked that I was working hard and trying to learn with the little I had. My instructor gave me the key to the dark room so I could work after hours. Little did he know that he also gave me the key to my spirit. My instructor wanted me to work in the schools dark room; ordering supplies, mixing chemicals for other students to use. I didn't mind the extra chores as it just helped me to learn more about chemistry and dark room processes. This opened the door for me to experiment. I was able, through my instructor to learned how Ansel Adams did his dark room work. Or the journalistic style of Henri Cartier-Bresson. This really helped me to understand the whole process involved in making an image, not just a picture, from start to finish. I was able to get a better appreciation for the amount of thought needed to achieve the end results of an image before clicking the shutter. Before finishing high school, my father passed away and my mother wanted to move back to her home in Europe. I spent a few years in Europe working in a studio and a photo lab. One of the things I did to earn extra money was shooting hill climb competitions. There was a local club of hobbyist racers who took their modified cars to race through switched back hills. No prizes; just the thrill of the race, to see if their cars were worthy, just for the love of the challenge the race provided. I would set up on a curve and shoot away. I soon grew a small reputation and people started to recognize me. I think it was more the attitude of the racers that made my pictures what they were. I was able to capture their spirit during and after the race. It was fun, and that was the best part. I was; 17, living in Europe and shooting great cars driven by very talented people, it was a great time. The money I earned was used to build up my photographic equipment. After a few years in Europe, I came back to the states and started working for a lab. I married a wonderful women that understood that photography was my way of expressing myself. The above picture of me waiting for the right light, was taken by her. I started college and began working with computers to help support our growing family. Photography was back to a hobby again. This did not mean I stopped being a photographer, just a different time in my life. As the years passed, I would still shoot self assigned projects or gigs and worked to improve my composition. Yousef Karsh was a great inspiration to me during this time. He had a way of capturing a persons spirit. Karsh is quoted as saying, “Within every man and woman a secret is hidden, and as a photographer it is my task to reveal it if I can. The revelation, if it comes at all, will come in a small fraction of a second with an unconscious gesture, a gleam of the eye, a brief lifting of the mask that all humans wear to conceal their innermost selves from the world. In that fleeting interval of opportunity the photographer must act or lose his prize.” This has been my challenge, to be able to find that "secret" in all subjects that I photograph, not just in people. When I build an image, there is usually an underlying story, maybe the story is just in my head. But, that "secret" is there, and I have made it my goal to capture that and present it in my images. You might have to look closely, but, it's there, just waiting for someone to find it. What photography means to me; The one thing I learned about photography; like music, photography has no borders, no race. I may not be able to pronounce the names of some photographers from around the world, but I can feel and see each one in their images. Like, musicians, photographers are a family of people who tell stories of the world as they see it. I get to see the world through the soul of each photographer. When you see one of my images, you see a little bit of myself. My hope is that you can see a little of me in my work. I currently use Nikon camera and lenses to capture my images. Thanks Dennis Photography; 100 percent technical, 100 percent art. It takes a photographer to blend them into an image.