Artist's Information
Essentially, I am a self-taught  photographer.  Although I "played" with
my Kodak Instamatic while a boy growing up in the Pocono Mts. of Pennsylvania during the 50s, it wasn't until my tour in Vietnam with the U.S. Army that I took an interest in photography as an art form. 
Perhaps I was literally bitten by a camera bug because I began to look at the world differently then.  I saw it in split-second intervals, and its shapes and forms in two-dimensional patterns.  I worked hard at it and spent many hours in a darkroom after roaming wherever to find an interesting shot.
Although I'm now fully digital after many years of darkrooms and chemicals, any "manipulation" of an image is kept to a minimum.  As in tradi- tional photography, exposing the negative is just the first step in a process. In the darkroom there are other steps one can take to enhance the image such as

I'm what I call an existential photographer.  That is, I look for images that exist in the here and now rather than a studio photographer or someone who arranges the environment to achieve a desired result.
burning and dodging, contrast filters or papers, even length of development.  Therefore, a certain amount of manipulation with digital is in keeping with the principles of traditional photography.  I do not create photographs!  Their essence is already there.  I merely help to reveal it.
Here are a few accomplishments with my photography:
Finalist: 2004 Photographer's Forum
Best of Photography competition representing top 6% of 19,000 entries

Finalist/Honorable Mention: 2005 Photographer's Forum Best of Photography competition representing top 1% of 21,000 entries

First Place: 2005 Guild of Beverly Artists 
Spring Art show; First & Third Place: 2005
Guild of Beverly Artists Fall Art Show

Finalist: 2006 Photographer's Forum
Best of Photography competition representing top 5% of 20,000 entries