A product of Michigan's Upper Peninsula (U.P.), I'm a true "yooper," having grown up in Escanaba, Michigan. My college years found me further North in Houghton, Michigan attending Michigan Technological University for Computer Science. After graduation, I returned to Escanaba to seek gainful employment and luckily, I found a job. Soon afterward I stumbled into what became my first "hobby" - Volleyball!
What started off as a backyard BBQ game, turned into something much more as I spent the next eight years assisting or coaching the girls volleyball program at Gladstone High School (Go Braves!) - somewhat of a sacrilege for a person who grew up an Eskymo. As time began to take its toll on my vertical leap and Advil replaced ankle wrap in my pack, I rekindled a middle-school interest in photography and found myself traipsing around the U.P. taking pictures (not photographs yet). My favorite subjects were waterfalls and lighthouses, something the U.P. had plenty of.
In 2001 my job took me out East to Bethel, Maine, and for someone who likes landscape and lighthouse photography, Maine is just about heaven. I put many a mile of road behind me as I explored the area from Acadia National Park to the White Mountains of New Hampshire. About a year later, this "flatlander" again found himself moving, but this time my destination was Dayton, Ohio - my first "big city." Instead of sharing the morning drive with deer or moose, I finally had the pleasure of contending with traffic jams and the continuous rush of cars driven by folks who thought they were better drivers than me.
During the next seven years I managed to find a few new spots for outdoor photography, and was a regular vistor to the National Museum of the United States. I wasinvolved in the Middletown Club volleyball program for serveral years, and enjoyed new friends along with certain aspects of city life. (Having a Best Buy or Barnes and Noble in your backyard can be a bad thing though...)
Now it's 2009 and there have been quite a few changes in my life. I'm happily married to a wonderful woman and we've been fortunate enough to be able to return to God's country. We'll see what the next several years holds...