This image is what I call a "self petroglyph."

Serious photography came into my life in my undergraduate college days. I met a brilliant photographer and he showed me the "magic." I was hooked.

I left college and spent the next seven years in the USAF, making pictures when I could, but mostly sitting in the cockpit of a KC-135.

I left the USAF and decided that I wanted to be a photographer. I went back to school and got a master's degree in photojournalism. I loved meeting people, making their photographs, and telling their stories. While in grad school, I worked in local commercial photo studios to learn about light and depth.

I knew I wanted to work with real people in real settings for my photographic life. In 1982, I began my business and have been making photographs ever since for commercial and editorial assignments.

A friend and mentor once told me that he could "see me" in my photographs. I believe it's true that on some level all photographs are self-portraits of the photographer. I know I've seen myself in some of the people I've photographed.