It began in junior high school, when I became interested in the photographic process. I shot with my father’s Fujica STX-1N 35mm SLR, and attempted to self-develop black and white film with questionable results. Yes, it is true, developer temperature, and development times really do matter. Many times I didn’t know if was either pull or push processing the film-I had no idea what that was. The images were questionable. I absolutely loved the process of capturing an image, then doing my best to process the film myself. I had better luck trusting a film lab to do the processing.

Fast forward, many years later, I was traveling at night working my “day job” through S.E. Oregon on US HWY 95. It’s a desolate area, not much light pollution. I stopped to use the “restroom” -usually behind a sage brush- I looked up and was amazed at the clarity and amount of stars that could be seen. Without delay, I quickly did my research about astrophotography, and bought a DSLR that I could afford-a Canon T2i. I still own it. Now, even though I have much more advanced equipment, and and have developed advanced techniques, I was instantly hooked seeing the amazing astro images that I captured with that T2i-a crop frame sensor camera. Now having networked with similar minded individuals, astrophotography has become a passion for me. My work vacations are scheduled specifically around the “new moon” schedule each month. Astrophotographers have to be nutty, crazy, or out of our minds to capture the beauty of the night sky-much of which regular night-time sleepers miss. I enjoy traveling to shooting locations where the “Normal Jane or Joe” thinks, “this person is crazy”, or is “real dedicated” to his craft. I’ve made astro photos in the Seven Devil Mountain range, at Mount Hood Oregon, in S.E. Oregon at the Alvord Desert, Steens Mountain, and other locations there. I love that area, and is my focus. I am looking to expand my shooting to other areas around the U.S. Hopefully to Nova Scotia Canada soon-fingers crossed!

Now back to film…A few years ago, I was killing time in second hand stores. I found an Olympus OM-1 SLR for $20, with an Olympus Zuiko 50mm lens. I ordered some Kodak Tri-X and shot it. I sent it into a film lab (they aren’t as prevalent anymore) and again was hooked! That experience sent me into the world of medium format, and 4x5 film photography. Why stop there? I scoured the second hand stores, online sales platforms, etc. for used enlargers, and processing equipment. I wanted to perform the whole photographic process from shooting, development, to final printing. I’ve noticed the younger generation is “getting into” shooting film, kind of like the interest in vinyl records. Film cameras are harder to find in second hand stores, along with used processing equipment and enlargers.

So my photographic journey has come full circle. I’ve noticed since shooting film, I’ve slowed down when shooting digital really thinking about my compositions instead of “spray and pray” digital photography. I love the outdoors, and the night time beauty it has to offer us.