Photography to me is a passion, an art form, and most importantly a tool as it can be used to spread the message of social justice movements, beauty, and the reality of the world around us.  My commercial focus has been travel, urban, and night photography however my real love is photojournalism recording social justice movements and creative arts events. The ability to capture the passion of the movement and to share the images with a broad audience spreading the messaging is extremely valuable.  I have been a photographer my entire life, which started when my dad gave me his 1948 Leica camera that he had bought the year of my birth. The Leica is now safely stored away, I have moved through many film cameras and now shoot exclusively with Canon digital SLR cameras. As an avid photography book collector, I study the work of the masters and do field work with professionals and amateurs alike to hone my craft and share experiences. Being a good photographer requires curiosity, patience, passion, desire to improve, and then the basics of understanding composition, lighting, camera settings, techniques, and post-processing software knowledge.