my story
Like everyone else, I’ve taken pictures all my life, but my first professional photography was in 1977 when I started shooting 16mm newsfilm in Charleston. It was reversal (like slides) and you had to nail the exposure, and there was only one light meter in the news department, so I learned how to guess my exposure pretty fast.
Then I moved to Columbia and learned how to light for Video cameras at SCETV, then on to PBS in Washington DC as an Engineering Supervisor where I managed crews for multi-camera setups at the White House and such.
Three years of DC was quite enough, so I moved back to SC to become a free-lance Cinematographer and Gaffer (Lighting Guy). I shot a lot of Video, and a good bit of 16 and 35mm color negative film. I even operated the ‘B’ camera on a couple of movies that you never heard of. Eventually, I learned how to properly expose and skillfully light motion picture film and, of course, Video.
About 10 years ago I started experimenting with the new Digital Still cameras; modifying one by mounting a huge video lens on it (with mixed results). It was then that I realized that Digital Still cameras have imaging devices in them that are essentially video chips, and I already knew how to light for video cameras.
So….now I use a combination of standard studio flash units and specially modified units fitted with optical shaping and control devices that lets me mix my film and video lighting techniques. And, I love it.
I hope you enjoy my site as much as I enjoyed taking the pictures.