About:
I am an award-winning visual storyteller with nearly 30-years of experience weaving narratives, big and small, with light and sound. I have an impeccable record of being able to motivate myself and others to perform at a high level. I love to acquire new skills and knowledge, such as starting and upgrading my podcast, and maximizing every opportunity no matter the challenge. As a visual storyteller with a range of photographic, technical, and management skills, my career features deep, tested experience using technology to cover news, sports, and life with award-winning visuals. Building teams of talented visual journalists across multiple platforms, I derive supreme satisfaction from finishing tasks with superior quality to elevate the enterprise to profit, value and excellence.
My work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, on the Associated Press, USA Today, Dispatch/Argus, and others. My work has been honored by the Associated Press, Illinois Press Photographers Association, Illinois Press Association, and others.
Some of my notable interns include John J. Kim, Pulitzer Prize winner; Jon Lowenstein, NPPA Magazine Photographer of the Year; Leah Klafczynski, 2015 Hearst Journalism Award finalist; and Marianne Morgan, Chicago Tribune photo editor.
I am an expert skier who loves spending time on a mountain skiing and enjoying the outdoors with Lisa, my wife of nearly 30-years. My passions outside of photography and skiing include craft beer, fine wine, and training with Poppy our White Labrador puppy Lab.
My late parents were both artists which accounts for my artistic acumen, but it is my engineer-brother who got me hooked on photography. Our relationship was the classic big brother, little brother dynamic. Jeff, who is 8-years older, led and I followed. I wanted to do everything he did. He was a photographer in high school and built a darkroom in our parents' basement. I was fascinated by the form and function of the enlarger. There was something magical about watching a print appear in the tray full of Dektol.
While Jeff was away at college I asked my mom if we could set up the darkroom so she could teach me to print. She was headed out the door to the grocery store at the time so she said we would do it as soon as she got back. By the time her Datsun 210 station wagon rolled up the driveway I had already mixed all the chemistry and was making my first prints from some old negatives, Jeff had left behind.
In retrospect, I haven't stopped learning or pushing the envelope since I slipped that first piece of Kodak Polycontrast paper into the developer.