About Me

It was my first time away from home, being yelled at by drill instructors and feeling very lonely and insecure. I didn’t even own a car yet, so I had no means of escape. On the day we were scheduled for military headshots, the photographer struck up a conversation with me. That photographer made me feel calm, at ease and normal again. Having associated the photographer’s camera with those positive feelings, I saved my military pay and put a camera on layaway at the commissary – my first major purchase in my life as an adult. My first time using the camera came as I was taking a military hop on a KC-135 (I think). The captain announced they would be refueling a couple F-4’s. When I saw the NCO crawl into the glass bubble to perform the refueling maneuver, I asked if I could photograph the fighters, and much to my surprise, he said Yes! As I laid next to the glass bubble on the floor of the tanker and looked down to see the flying boom, the F-4 and the ocean below, I was in awe.