I was an Air Force “brat” growing up.
My father served in the Air Force for 23 years, he was a veteran of World War II in the Pacific, and he also served in the Korean War. Because he was in the service, I had the privilege of seeing a bit of the world while growing up, including Alaska, Okinawa and a big portion of the United States. It was a wonderful experience. My father also got me started in this wonderful journey of photography by giving me my first camera at the age of 13. I was hooked immediately on photography!
Well several years passed, I married, had a wonderful son who is now grown and has a child of his own now. More of that later. 🙂 After getting married, I became the official “designated photographer” for my friends and family, photographing a few weddings for them, which led me to first open my doors as a business in 1994 in Lubbock, Tx. In 1997 I moved to Iowa because of my mothers health, which was starting to fail. Best decision I ever made since I was able to spend more time with her before she died in 2002 at the age of 83. My father had died 10 years earlier from cancer. Soon after moving to Cedar Rapids I open Visions Photography in 1998, and in 2005 I was able to go full time into photography and have never looked back.
I mentioned earlier that my son now has a child of his own, Raquel, and she is the light of my life. I love to be around her, and as a three-year old, she is so full of curiosity about life! Being a grandfather is a lot of fun!
I worked for 24 years as an electronics technician, 16 years for Texas Instruments in Lubbock, TX, and the last 8 were even photography related. I repaired and operated a Scanning Electron Microscope. After moving to Cedar Rapids in 1997, I worked for Rockwell Collins as a technician on a government radio. I can’t really go into much detail about the radio I worked on except that it was used in military applications: air and ground.
I love photography, have I mentioned that? LoL There is no better feeling then to see a customer who is overjoyed over their portraits! It’s the best feeling in the world to know that the images I create for clients have brought them so much joy.
I belong to the Profesional Photographers of Iowa – PPI, Professional Photographers of America – PPA, and Wedding and Portrait Photographers International – WPPI. I attend seminars on a regular basis and compete in several different competitions during the year not for the awards so much, but because it is a great way to continually improve my skills as a photographer. (See my awards gallery on my main website www.visionsphotography.net.