Welcome to my page. It is still under construction, and I will eventually add some features, such as fiction, essays, photos,and perhaps some music as space allows.
The photo you see was taken by Eric S., who photographs my mother and I at the MD Renaissance Festival. We have played there together for several years, though my mother was playing there for several years before I got there. Usually, my mom plays mandolin or fiddle, and I play the guitar or the mandolin, as needed. In the photo above, I am playing the fiddle. We have performed at several Celtic/Renaissance weddings, The Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, MD, The University of Baltimore, and a benefit for the John F. Kennedy High School in Wheaton, MD, plus countless other engagements that slip my mind at this time.
My mother has been a "Renaissance" woman for as long as I can remember. She has done many different things, such as writing, photography, and music professionally. She performed in coffee houses when I was a tot, and pursued the photography and writing as I was growing up. I tagged along with a lot of her adventures, so I got to learn a lot of things very young. She was an equestrienne too, so she taught me how to ride when I was little.
My father is a retired electronics engineer. He worked for the Navy for 30+ years, and has spent his retirement years putsing around with his computer. It is thanks to him that I am finally starting to put together my own page. My father also is an avid photographer, along with my mother. They both had me shooting pictures from a young age. (Is age 10 young enough?) Their knowledge in photography is broad, and has helped me develop (get it? "develop"!) my own twisted view of the world. This has now been passed on to my younger brothers, who also are "renaissance" men, who are proficient artists/photographers/musicians.
I work at a photo lab in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. We handle film and digital work from all over the country. It was the interest in photography that lead me to apply there. I did so right out of high school, and have been in and out of the lab for 13 to 14 years. The people that I have met there are really outstanding. They are like family to me as well. I have done lots and lots of different things there, from splicing film rolls, to printing pictures, to processing the photographic paper, and finally inspecting the finished prints. There are lots of things to learn there, and I am not done learning it all. Some of the fiction I will be putting up here is inspired by events that have happened there, plus the events that I imagine could happen there.
I have a husband and an 11 year old son, who will eventually show their faces on this site. I have taken lots of pictures of them, and some of them were pretty good. (good enough to display in a public forum) I have taken lots of pictures of everything else as well. There are several things right within the D.C. area that offer a wealth of photographic material. There are parks, gardens, zoos, and nature preserves all within an hour or so of my home. I like to take advantage of as much of the free attractions as I can. One of my favorite places, Brookside Gardens, is constantly changing their landscaping to suit the season. They always have something new to photograph. They also have a lovely greenhouse, that features some marvelous tropical plants. My whole family are regular visitors to Brookside Gardens.
My camera collection is OLD! I have a Retina IIC Rangefinder. It has been my do everything camera for a very long time. I have tried newer fancier cameras, and I always come back to the Retina. There is also a Mamiya C220 that I like to use for informal portraits, and landscapes. (anything that doesnt move too fast.) I have used a Yashica 124G, a Yashica A, and a Yashica FX-3. For my SLR, I have a Ricoh. I will try to shoot darn near anything. When I was a teenager, my mom taught me how to shoot horse shows, and my dad taught me portraits, landscapes, and other similar things. My dad and mom also taught me how to develop my b/w work in the darkroom.
Music has been a major part of my life as well as photography. My mother was playing guitar before I was born, so I have always had lots of music to listen to. My favorites are OLD. They include: Cat Stevens, Gordon Lightfoot, The Scorpions, Seals and Croft, Simon and Garfunkel, The Eagles, Jim Croce, and several others like them. I have been a head banger, a folkie, a hippie, and everything in between. My latest favorite is Hayseed Dixie, who perform old rock and roll favorites in bluegrass style. (AC/DC done in accoustic with fiddles, mandolins, slide guitars, etc) They have covered AC/DC, The Cars, Queen, Aerosmith and the like. To me, that is the test of a good song, strip it down to the barest essentials, and see if it still sounds good.
I started learning guitar when I was about 14, but I have also tried to learn piano and voice. I spent four years in my high school choir. Piano was not so easy. I never did get anywhere with it. It wasn't until a few years ago that I got interested in mandolin and fiddle. I found the mandolin a much easier thing to learn than the guitar, but the fiddle is not so easy. I am still learning all of my interests. I will be learning for as long as I live.
That is all for the introductions. Please be patient with me as I update and add features. I cannot predict how long it will take me to be a web master.