The year was 1963.    I had just gotten my driver's license and a fifty dollar '49 Ford.    Freedom at last -- it was a very good feeling.    I lived in an exceptionally beautiful area of California -- the Monterey Peninsula, and now I could finally go places on my own.    There was little doubt about what I wanted to do -- shoot, develop, and print photos. 

One sunny morning I set out for the short trip south towards Big Sur, but as I rounded a curve I spotted the bearded man with the camera platform on top of his car that I had been idolizing for the past few years -- it was Ansel Adams.    My heart started to race.  I had to find out where the "greatest photographer in the world" was going, so I turned my old car around and followed him into Carmel.    Much too shy to approach him directly, I watched as he visited the postoffice and a cafe to have breakfast.    If I had been more brave I would have waited for him to return to his car, but instead I left him a note on his windshield with compliments and a rather bold request that I wished he could look at my photos some time.    A few days later a postcard arrived in the mail -- it read:   "Can't decypher your signature, but sure, I'd love to see your photos -- just give me a call when you want to come over".    Somehow I got enough courage to call him, and about an hour later I was sitting in his front room with him giving me pointers on how I could improve each image.    Of course, my photography at that point was pathetic, but it inspired me to read his books and get a grasp on the Zone System -- a method for predetermining results by carefully manipulating exposure and development.    A few months later I felt I had to show him my new attempts, so I re-invited myself to his home and after he had looked through my new work he complimented me on how much I had improved.    The moment was probably the finest in all of my short sixteen years.

Although it turned out not to be true, there was absolutely no doubt what I would do with my life -- I was going to be a professional photographer!   Nothing was going to stop me.    I created the "PhotoPlaque" and began selling my black-and-white photos this way on Monterey's Fisherman's Wharf.    Between income from that and my after-school delivery job, I was able to purchase a 4x5 Calumet View Camera, a heavy-duty tripod, and a very nice lens -- a 210mm Schnieder Symmar with Compur shutter. 

It's amazing how quickly 45 years can pass by, and regretfully photography took a back-seat to other interests, although I never stopped looking at things in nature -- framing them up with my fingers -- imagining what they would look like in a photo.

In 2002 I got curious about digital photography -- and it's just like being a youngster again.    These days the darkroom is the computer, and Photoshop® allows creative flexibility and a high degree of technical control over the final image.