I was born on the south side of Chicago, but moved to Northern California when I was 12, so the west coast really does feel like my cultural roots and San Francisco my hometown. But I came to Boston for my bachelor’s degree in music and then to NYC to get my masters degree at The Manhattan School of Music. I then stayed in New York for 35 years now, so I definitely feel like a full-blown New Yorker. I freelanced as a pianist and composer for years in NYC and then landed a full time job teaching music at The Calhoun School on the upper west side. I let go of teaching after 10 years and found myself obsessively fascinated with photography, almost as if it were a new musical instrument speaking to a lifetime spent in that pursuit. My wife got tired of seeing me using my iPhone so much, so she bought me a birthday present of a beautiful Sony mirrorless, my first real camera. Three years studying the basics, as well as taking master classes in the philosophy and grammar of photography at the International School of Photography brought me to a place where I felt I could follow and realize my total immersion in this new passion, and, in short, found myself continuing incessantly to photograph everything in sight that engaged me. Four years ago I was offered a job as staff photographer for the Fire Island News, a newspaper based in Long Island, NY, and jumped at the opportunity to work as a photojournalist. I now consider myself a full time freelance street photographer, portrait photographer, and photographer in general.