My first memory of photography was in the early 70’s. I saw an image appear from a piece of paper, as it was floating in a bath of fuming chemicals. I felt like I was on Mars with the glowing red light of my moms makeshift darkroom. We lived in the Santa Cruz mountains and I played among the redwoods, ferns and bananna slugs. It was a paradise.

A decade later and I was taking hundreds of images a week, with hours in the dark room. We followed our roots back to Montana, and I was the high school yearbook & newspaper photographer for the Bozeman Hawks. This experience led to photography and photojounalism scholarships to a great photgraphy school in Powell, Wyoming, Northwest Community College. The photoagraphy program at NWCC taught me the reality, and options, of the photography industry. In the film days, my experience provided fun, and interesting, options where ever I wanted! The reality of being a “professional photographer” was only a dream, but having a photo related job was up to me. Photographer assistant, darkroom lab tech, photo equipment sales, and any local newspaper work was available, and I was an easy hire. The 1 hour photo lab was the best ticket to a job

Testing the waters in Bozeman, Yellowstone, Santa Cruz(with ideas of Hollywood!)and even Hawaii. I settled in at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and the 90’s were just warming up. At the time, Teton Village was a fairly new, locally owned ski resort. It was the time of Warren Miller & Greg Stump, and I discovered powder snow & the snowboard. I would stay for more than a decade. It was paradise.

The dream of being working freelance photographer was hard for me to focus on, until snowboarding. The ski bum lifestyle fit like a glove, and opened the door to follow that dream. I found an industry looking for images and local talent, and I was in for the ride. This ride has been, and continues to be a crazy journey, with a lot of stops. The new millinnium brought on a new era of digital photography, and personal reboot for me.

In 2006, I took a job in West Yellowstone, Montana and would start guiding in Yellowstone National Park. I started guiding with snowmobiles, then became the mechanic/guided for Yellowstone Alpen Guides. Yellowstone in winter is a special experience. It became another lucky window of experience & opportunity. It was paradise.

After 4 decades living in Yellowstone ecosystem, I’m thankful to have place in paradise with my family in Island Park, Id. Most of the year is now dedicated to my winter tour company, Caldera Tours (calderatours.com). My freelance and photography passion is satisfied with the occasional editorial submission, summer real estate season, and a list of personal projects. Of course, self publication on social media is the artists key to the world. It’s pretty cool.