While I was employed by Fresno PD, in the early stages of my career, I was assigned to the Identification Bureau (Crime Scene photography).

It was while I was assigned there, that I was introduced to serious photography. It was there that I learned “the basics”.

After retiring, my interest in photography intensified and I became serious about pursuing it as a second career.

For the past seven years, I have been studying and practicing the precepts of good photography. I am a graduate of the New York Institute of Photography, the oldest and largest School of Photography in the world.

I have completed their most comprehensive course, the Complete Course of Professional Photography.
But, any good photographer will tell you that diplomas are secondary to the actual mastery of the craft. The real test of a good photographer is the quality of his/her work. I invite you to review my work in my gallery.

I promise you uncommon, high quality, artistic photographs.

Posing you to optimally capture your individual beauty and personality is my most important objective during the portrait session. We, (you and I), will make images that are most flattering of you and your family.

Sessions are private and relaxed. You can change wardrobes as often as you like. You can include as many people in the as you want.

Your portraits will be heirloom quality, worthy of display in your home or office as true pieces of art.

Photography of your important life events (like weddings) will be the artful, skillful capture of your intimate memories of these celebrations to be preserved for many lifetimes.

Commercial photography is all about the effectiveness of the imagery for whatever purpose it is intended. To that end, I will attentively consult with you to learn, explicitly, the purpose of the photography. If desired, I will provide you with the benefit of my best advice on how to achieve those purposes, photographically. I will then effectively deliver high quality, effective, appealing and attention grabbing photography, on time and in a media ready form.

For those potential commercial clients, my emphasis is on creating the most effective images for your purposes, making sure your requirements are completely met, insuring that the images are competently prepared and delivered in the form required and keeping my pricing reasonable and affordable.

My goal is to relieve you of all the work of managing your photography project. Tell me what you need in the way of photography, when you need it and I take care of making it happen.

I have a significant background in management experience in a large organization. I understand what management needs and have the ability to see your job from your organizational perspective.

In the past, I have had my studio in a commercial building. And while that experience was a positive one, it was not perfect for what I wanted.

Fortunately, I was able to create the perfect studio with high ceilings, beautiful window lighting and pristine white tiled flooring in my own residence. It is perfect for making beautiful photography and it is homey and comfortable for all of my clients.

If you are going to do professional work, you need professional tools.

Although the most important equipment a photographer has is the 10 inches behind the viewfinder, there is definitely a difference of quality in hardware available. And, there is a corresponding difference in the image quality.

I use top of the line full frame professional cameras for my work. I use top of the line professional lenses with the camera bodies to insure that absolutely the finest images are captured for my clients. I won’t bore you with the technical details, but if you’re a techie on this issue, you can see a complete list of my photography equipment here .

In the studio, I use only professional lighting equipment. I use both continuous and studio flash, depending on the demands of the imagery.

If required to conduct the session out of the studio, I essentially bring the studio with me. That includes the all important professional lighting and backdrops.

The role of equipment in the making of excellent images doesn’t stop with camera and lights. There are several other methods and pieces of equipment necessary to produce professional results.

Maybe the most critical method involved throughout the image capturing and rendering process is accurate color calibration.

Color calibration starts with the use of specialized equipment at the time of the shoot. It allows the gathering of color/lighting information to be used by the computer processing software at the time of processing the images, to insure accurate color representation by the monitor.

The monitor cannot be just any consumer grade monitor. A high end photographic monitor (for the sake of non-technical discussion) capable of being color calibrated is a required piece of equipment in the professional creation process.

Next, a professional grade photographic printer capable, itself, of being color calibrated to perfectly emulate the monitor, is required.

Lastly, professional grade photographic paper designed specifically for the printer must be used to insure absolute color integrity in the print.

I print my own photographs on professional equipment and I use top of the line photographic paper*.

It is a hand crafted process involving my personal, expert attention to detail of the quality of your investment in the making of your personal art form.

Prints are made, one at a time. Each is an individual work of art. Perfectly color balanced and a perfect reproduction of the likeness of those photographed.

I don’t process your prints in bulk using a mass production printer operated by questionably qualified minimum wage employees at a big box stores.

I take tons of images during the session. I do this to insure that we get the perfect shot and to allow you a wide array of images to select from.

All of the proofs of the session are posted to your own private on-line gallery but which you can share with friends and family.

You will have as much time as you need to make your selection of the proofs to be processed to their final portrait quality. You will have the opportunity to inspect the finished images, again, to insure that they are everything you expect them to be.

I make classic, artistic portraiture for display in your home, office or anywhere.

I take great pains to produce a very high quality piece of art that is Exhibition Worthy.

The digital files from your portraiture session are of such quality and size they can be used to create the largest print possible without losing any of the most minute detail.

These hand crafted files are the source for the making of perfectly exquisite prints time after time.

As such, they are significantly more valuable than the print itself.

If you want, only, to purchase the digital files of your portraiture, I will sell them to you but they will be of a size and resolution for display on a monitor (screen ready).

If your belief is that it is wiser for you to purchase the digital files and have your prints made at a low cost commercial warehouse, I can give you a better value.

I will print your images for close to the lowest price you can find anywhere else. But, what I add to the equation is my one at a time quality control, guaranteed color calibration and hand processing of each print to ensure it is a perfect replication of the image file. To see more discussion on the importance of this issue, please follow this link.

And, you don’t have to go to the warehouse to pick up your prints. I deliver them to you.

For an unbiased assessment of the quality of the print processing of a popular commercial warehouse, please follow this link: Costco’s Printing Processes

And, this link: Costco vs. Professional Color Labs

Here are the salient points to be considered in this issue.

Warehouses don’t create fine art, I do.

Warehouses print snapshots of our vacations, they don’t print fine art portraits.

Printing is every bit as important as the image capture.

And, not all print processes are equal.

The most significant difference in print processes is the calibration of color accuracy between the three devices used to create an image.

First, of course, is the camera used. Professional photographers create a color calibration profile for each camera they use. This insures the best color representation in the image captured.

The next step in the process involves calibrating the monitor used to process the image so that it displays a true representation of color and accurately displays the image taken by the color calibrated camera.

The final step in the calibration process is to calibrate the printer used to print the image. It must be calibrated to accurately match the colors of the monitor used in processing in the print is produces.

If any one of these components is removed from the color calibrated system, there is a high likelihood that the resultant print will not accurately represent the image captured.

I don’t want to trust my image files to warehouses because they do not have the ability to replicate the color calibration profiles I created for my system.

I have been unhappy with warehouse printing more often than not.

I give your prints the same care and attention as I do my own Fine Art and competition prints.

It’s all about quality. I am fastidious about the quality of the prints I deliver to you. They are not snapshots; they are pieces of art.

Here is the bottom line.

My business is only as good as my reputation.

I don’t want to assume the risk of a third party printing my digital files and have the result be an inferior portrait.

You won’t be happy with the product and you won’t be happy with me.

Lastly, I don’t want anyone to see an inferior portrait that has my name associated with it.

It makes no sense for you to pay $100 for the making of a high quality portrait and then have a third party print it in order to save a few dollars. In saving those few dollars on the cost of a print you jeopardize, and likely diminish, your much larger investment in the making of a high quality portrait.

Lastly, Costco and I have an agreement: I let them print snapshots and they let me print high end portraits.