My creativity was born when I was born—I was born in a railroad boxcar. I sometimes kiddingly call myself the “Boxcar Kid.” The first eighteen years of my life required all the creative juices I could muster to survive. Among other life factors, those creative juices are what spawned my interest in art, where the only struggle was to enjoy the wonders of a person’s imagination. By the time I was in the second grade, I was drawing colorful cardinals and blue jays.

It was no surprise that I later majored in art. I took three years of art in college. Little did I know that my artistic know-how was to later become the foundation for my photography twenty years later. It was at Texas Tech University that I discovered the likes of Cezanne, Renoir, Monet, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Degas, Miró, Dalí, and other master artists. It was during those metamorphic years that I learned about color, design, balance, composition, and other factors that separate real art from the mechanics of painting. It was during those formative years that I was influenced by Impressionists, Surrealists, and Pointillists.

Today, I call myself a photo artist because my approach to photography begins with art in mind, not the engineered specifications of my camera or lenses. I offer photography workshops, classes, 1-on-1 photo lessons, and small group field trips. I always tell my students, “Be an artist first, photographer second.” I don’t see with my eyes. I see with my imagination. I don’t photograph the subjects my eyes see; I interpret them to what my imagination sees. I see shape, form, color, design, texture, mood, feelings, and then I translate them into something we call a “photograph.” I see something before I see it.