Starting out … What is this?


I think I’m a photographer. I also love to explore history; to learn about new places and new cultures. For me, all of this goes together. Some people travel and take snapshots of their trip. Other people pick places to go just to take pictures. They see a picture of some place, then want to go there and try to make a picture like that. An “art picture.” An Iconic Image that captures the “spirit” of a place. Yes, I am that person — the great artist wannabe.

My wife, Nancy, loves to travel. She spends hours, days, weeks trying to decide where to go on our next trip. Or where she would like to live. (Check out her blog on discovering the “expat” lifestyle at www.ShoreDiveLife.com.) She reads, researches, studies, and compares. She imagines being there and studies the wining and dining options. My process is much simpler: I see a picture of someplace — in a magazine, on a poster, or anyplace really. I “feel” the image. I love it. I want to go there. I want to capture that image for myself. Maybe, if I am very lucky, I’ll take a better picture. Who knows?


Business trips or personal, I always take my cameras. When we travel, I test everyone’s patience at each stop along the way. I loiter. I take pictures. I move a bit. I take more pictures. I change settings. I take more pictures. Our party leaves us. I take more pictures. Nancy heads for the bus, too. I take more pictures. By some miracle, I have never missed the bus. But it seems always in doubt. There’s a standing bet.

Now, after years of trying the patience of my fellow-travelers (both business and personal), I have begun to wonder, “what next?” Nancy and I have begun our search for our “next life.” We’re hoping for new places, new things to do, and no office needed. As I wind down a very absorbing 30-year-plus professional career, I wonder what will inspire and fill my days. It will probably include photography, but will that be the main thing? For now and probably the next few years I am experimenting to see if the camera is “it.” This blog is mainly about the pictures. The results of travels, trips, plans, plots, and experiments. Hopefully, the good ones … but maybe not always. Along the way there may be stories, trials, and tribulations.

But mainly, it’s about the images.