My Background in Photography

Back in 1985, after a couple of years "helping out" with a couple of Public Affairs Offices as a volunteer photographer/writer on a few Army bases where my former wife was stationed, yeah, I was actually hired as a photographer at the Training, Audiovisual, Support Center (T.A.S.C.) over in Bremerhaven, Germany.

Yeah, I took pictures of people in the Army ... We had a Studio, and a Darkroom, and yeah, I had a riot!

Now true, I did get my first camera, a Kodak 110 Instamatic, the summer after I graduated from high school, and then my first 35mm (film) SLR camera, when I was stationed over in Japan, while in the Marines. True, I had no idea what I was doing, but it was pretty much "Foolproof", which was my saving grace.

I was CLUELESS, so yeah, that "worked for me"!

Then, after going to college (for HISTORY!), yeah, I got married to a woman that joined the Army.

I needed something to do, so yeah, I signed up for a photography course, through the mail, with the NEW YORK INSTITUTE of PHOTOGRAPHY.

Really.

That easy.

I mean, what? I had been taking pictures for TEN years, while on my motorcycle trips, so yeah, I was all set! I even shot 35mm SLIDE FILM, the summer before I graduated from college (I was 27!), yeah, on my BMW R60 (that's ahh, 600cc!) motorcycle.

And some actually "came out pretty good", you know, for a kid that got kicked out of art class more than I ever want to acknowledge, or admit to!

Yeah, it wasn't pretty. I was a "handful" to say the least.

And yes! I admitted it every year, on the first day of class, you know, at the middle school I ended teaching at for over twenty-five years (hey! I didn't start until I was what? 38 years old)!

Give me a break!

Oh! And I ended up getting hired as a Special Education teacher, of all things! Without ever taking a class in it at college! That came later ...

No, I was a photographer, for ten years after college, and yeah, actually got paid for three years over there in Germany, so yeah, and after I finished that "Mail" photography course, yeah, I learned to be, you know, a "real" photographer!

Talk about "learning while on the job", ha! Yeah, I had that down pat! I even learned how to print 35mm Black and White photos, you know, once I got in there, and had a German photographer show me how it was done! Yeah, there were two of us that supplied, ahh, like "NORTHERN GERMANY" with the "official" photos Army personnel needed to have in their records in order to get promoted, well, at least all "Senior" (E-6 and above!) personnel, you know Staff-Sergeant, and up!

Oh yeah, it kept us busy! Most of the people came to us, but yeah, we also took our "Studio on the Road" a couple times a year - When needed.

What a riot!

And yes! I even got "other people" in there, you know, kids' sport champions, The Northern Germany Beauty Contest winners (really!), oh yeah, I'd photograph anybody, anytime! You know, if it was "Official", that is!

I had FUN for three years ... Even taught a college photography class one year for the Army's Overseas College Program! Yeah, right there in 'My Office"! Yeah, for Boston College, or Boston University, you know, some college in Boston!

Yeah, in Bremerhaven, Germany!

Unreal. They paid me and everything!

Ha! What a time!

And yes, once we returned to the States, yeah, I got into Graduate School, there in Chicago, and actually got my Master's Degree in, you guessed it!

PHOTOGRAPHY!

At a "REAL" Art School, right downtown Chicago!

I know!

CRAZY!

Which led to me teaching college photography, I mean, ART, right up the road, here at Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute, or whatever it is "officially" called!

No, that's right! I got it!

Yeah, CCC&TI, of course!

Again, "been awhile".

Oh, and then, working as a real "FREElance" travel photographer for, well, first, motorcycle touring companies, and then River Cruises, white-water rafting trips, bicycle trips, you name it!

I would go, and photograph, anything that would "GET ME OUT THERE"!

All my "deals" were done on "THE EXCHANGE BASIS", or, you know, whatever the "official" name of it was called! As you can tell, I wasn't a real "BUSINESSMAN" by any means!

They supplied the trip, I provided them with images. Period.

Hey, somehow it worked out pretty good ..

Except for my marriage.

BUMMER.

But yeah, I still found a way to "get out there"! Yeah, then, I retired, and just kept on going!

Can't complain ... ALL FIFTY STATES, and EVERY CONTINENT (twice!) ... So yeah, it all worked out in the long run!

Yeah, I took my "first trip' at nine months, coming back East, from California, where I was born (March Air Force Base), to just outside Washington, DC (Fort Myers), where my father was stationed in the Army.

Then Greece, as a second and third grader, where my father was stationed, and then Japan (as a Marine) where I was stationed, and then, after college ... Even Germany, and Korea (while married to my "college sweetheart" who joined the Army).

And then, right here in Caldwell County, North Carolina, for the past what? Over THIRTY something years (math was never "my thing", just don't tell anybody!), afterall, I actually ended up teaching "Special Ed. math" for YEARS!

Yeah, took a few classes up in Boone, to get certified, and everything!

Who saw THAT coming?

But I did have fun!

Well, yeah, and then I retired, and just kept on going, wherever, and whenever I could!

Still "working on that one"!

But yeah, as you can tell, the MILITARY has played a major role in my life. Like, from the very beginning!

Three years in the Marines, which led to four years in college, which yeah, led to twenty-five plus years at the middle school, and twenty years at the local community college, on nights and weekends ... Which yeah, was only possible with The G.I. Bill, that I "earned" by signing up to be stationed in Japan, of all places!

Who knew?

Hello? I drove Japanese motorcycles since I was fourteen years old, and took karate classes after high school! I loved it.

Oh yeah, I liked my Japanese (then German!) motorcycles! Even had a three month "HONEYMOON" aboard a motorcycle!

Even drove a motorcycle in all FIFTY states,by the summer I turned FIFTY!

But that's another story for another day ... And one you have heard about for YEARS now!

Old habit.

Can't help myself.

I mean, here I sit, at a computer, with THOUSANDS of digital images stored on CDs, and DVDs, like, right in front of me!

All those STORIES!

All those MEMORIES!

Unreal.

Good luck with your photographic journey! And yes, we all have one, in some form or another!

I just hope you enjoy YOURS as much as I have!

And no! I checked ... You don't have to join the military to enjoy your photographic journey!

Really.

I double-checked for you!

But you could! Just saying ...

See ya OUT THERE!