Winding Road

Biography

Although I began photographing many years ago in the mid-60's, I did so with the purpose of simply recording events in and around my life, or photographing 'pretty' scenes that I encountered. In my early adulthood I gravitated to portraiture, after which followed an apprenticeship in a photography studio, photographing weddings. All this was done using color print film and occasionally slides; my personal work was generally done on weekends and vacations. During this time I also dabbled in Black & White, with very limited success. These photographic meanderings continued over the next few decades, until the spring of 1988 when I saw a book of Black & White images by Ansel Adams. The images and the tones that were on those pages jumped out at me, and I began to wonder why my Black & White prints did not come even close to those images in tonality and impact. At that point I determined to improve my Black & White printing to better express on photographic paper my impressions on some of the most magnificent scenes imaginable.

My passion for photography continued to intensify. I attended my first photography workshop in the fall of that year -- in Vermont with Fred Picker of Zone VI fame. It was here that I was introduced to the creative possibilities inherent in Black & White printing, especially using sheet film, and my resolve to improve heightened. I have since attended a number of other workshops, led by such renowned photographers as John Sexton, Ray McSavigny, Bruce Barnbaum, Mike Fatali, Howard Bond, and Dan Anderson. John Sexton and Dan Anderson in particular have been major sources of inspiration, not only because of their photographic and printing skills, but because of their congenial personalities and willingness to share their knowledge and experience with their students. I am forever indebted to my wife Debbie, from whom I constantly receive a lot of encouragement. She also serves in the role of critic of my work. Her insightful comments are a tremendous help in the selection and processing of the images which are in my current portfolio. Within the past 10 years or so I have begun focusing on digital imaging, and as a result have diversified my portfolio to include colour images. I now photograph with a digital camera (initially the Canon 5D, then the 5D Mark II, and now the Canon 5D Mark IV), and I scan my existing negatives and process and print them digitally.

I have participated in several Kodak-sponsored Toronto and vicinity Camera Club competitions, earning numerous awards. Most recently one of my photographs was selected as 'Best of Show' at the annual Capture Oakville competition, as well as 1st and 2nd place at the Stratford 50th Anniversary Photo competition. In 2014, one of my images won first place at the Joshua Creek Heritage Art Centre competition, while another one received Honourable Mention. My photographs have been exhibited at the Etobicoke School Board, various galleries and corporations in the vicinity of Toronto, and in Montreal in a joint exhibit with my mother, Daria (oil painting). More recently, a collection of my images were part of a three-person exhibit at Gallery on Queen in Cookstown, Ontario, and a two-person exhibition at Trina Koster Photography in Guelph, Ontario. Within the past 10 or so years I have been teaching darkroom techniques and silver gelatin printing workshops, as well as a workshop in digital processing using Adobe Lightroom at Trina Koster Photography, and more recently landscape photography techniques.