Growing up in Spartanburg, I became interested in photography at a young age when I picked up my dad’s Yashica Electro 35, which he’d purchased while in the Air Force. Eventually, he gave me that hand-me-down camera and I started shooting bad photos with it, right away. I continued my on-and-off journey in photography for several years and continued to take bad photos with that camera. Eventually, I bought a newer “fancier” camera and started reading books and magazines about photography, while only realizing modest improvement.

I moved around the southeast a bit throughout my twenties following various creative, educational, and professional pursuits. I always brought my cameras along whenever I moved, but often became frustrated or bored with my photos. Unsatisfied, I started taking photography classes at the local community college while living in Georgetown, SC. My instructor there saw something in my photography and suggested that I apply to become a photographer with a company that he worked for. That company hired me as a photographer and sent me on assignments all over the country shooting special events.

At first, I was excited about traveling and actually making money while using some really nice cameras and equipment, all at the company’s expense, but eventually became bored with the subject matter. I wanted to do something a little more creative than shooting marching band competitions and corporate events.

I’ve dabbled in photography over the years, while also following a different career path and now running my own company. In recent years, I’ve started taking photography a little more seriously, but as a therapeutic break from my daily work.

My subjects are now whatever I want them to be, sometimes it’s not about a subject at all, but about the exercise… and I still pull out the Electro 35 from time to time.

Over the last year or so, I’ve taken up going on “coffee walks” with a camera in hand. These walks always involve a stop (or start) at a local coffee shop in whatever town I happen to be in.

A walk may be an hour, or several hours, depending on the day. These are most often in Spartanburg, but I do get out of town once in a while. I try to find interest in the mundane things we see every day by emphasizing their shape, texture, lighting, color, or context. These subjects, or scenes, become more apparent and often take on new meaning when we’re not whizzing by them in our cars.

Reviewing most of the images in my collection takes me back to where I was on a particular day, how I felt, and which coffee shop I visited.