About

I took a very traditional route to becoming a photographer, receiving a BA in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley, and a JD from UC’s Hastings College of Law in San Francisco. After years as a criminal lawyer in Los Angeles, I happily waived goodbye to the law and devoted my full time to writing lyrics with some wonderful and talented musicians, got signed to Warner-Chappell Music, and somehow got into producing through no real talent of my own.

During lulls in my music career (which were all too frequent), I kept grabbing my camera and shooting more and more. It became obvious to me that this pastime was what I really loved, and I felt more defined by it than anything else I had done. The wonder of photography which I first learned from my father (See “From My Father”) had never left me. The ability to freeze a moment, and to go back again and again to that moment, still amazes me. There are mysteries
contained in every photograph. Though the photo doesn’t change, our reactions to it do, and so a still photograph can
remain fresh and interesting – even illuminating – over time. That’s the wonder of it.

What I always loved became what I did. I took a lot of workshops,
read every photo magazine I could find, and studied hundreds of
books, trying to absorb the work, thoughts and techniques of so
many very talented photographers.

I get to shoot a lot of interesting, beautiful people. There’s something
special in the way a person being photographed gives himself or herself so completely
to the photographer, often revealing what is not revealed to the world at large.
In that way, and for that period of time, an intimate relationship is formed.
In that intimacy between photographer and subject, the photo is created. Many
of those shoots have resulted in long-term friendships, and I have to say that
this beats going to court to make a living.

I’ve been fortunate. I have a great wife – Nicole – who liked
that I was a lawyer (yes, really), but has always wanted me to do what I needed
to do. She’s always my first editor, an honest critic at home, my cheerleader
in public, and my most loyal friend. I also want to mention Buddy, our fabulous
standard poodle, who seems to like the camera, and happily allows me to take
all the pictures of him I want.

There is much to be grateful for.