I took 4 more years worth of University courses in photography.   From day one, I was shooting commercially and making money.  I started out doing "Head Shots" for local actors and working as a stringer for my local newspapers.  I worked, as a photographer, with the Huntington Beach Fire Department.  I shot building interiors and exteriors for real estate agents.  I shot small product ads, in the school studio, at night. 

I was just a university student but I already had a number of commercial clients. 

At some point, I ran out of photo classes.  I decided that it was time to become a full-time "professional" photographer. 

Within a month, I gave  notice to my grocery store bosses, assembled my commercial portfolio, bought a nice 3-piece suit and made a single phone call.  I had found an ad in the newspaper "Help Wanted" section.   So I called and I got an interview.

That interview was for a position as a Medical Photographer with Public Relations abilities, at St. Francis mediacl Center, in L.A. County.  Once I gave them my background and showed them what I had done, I was hired on the spot.  I was literally working at the Medical Center the next morning.  I had just taken a 50% cut in pay and was driving to work for an hour but I couldn't have been more excited.

One day, one newspaper, one ad, one call, one interview, one hour... that became the rest of my life.

I had instantly become the one and only Medical and Public Relations Photographer for a major Medical Center in the Los Angeles area.    My scientific background, with the pre-dental emphasis, helped me to understand exactly what the doctors and nurses were talking about. 

I immediately moved all of my personal, professional grade, darkroom equipment into a vacant Physical Therapy room, at the Medical Center.  My darkroom sink was an old bath tub.  I put plywood and dark plastic over the windows, pulled on a pair of "scrubs", put on a name badge and went to work, having more fun than I could imagine.

I shot open heart surgeries, Emergency Room procedures, Labor and Deliveries, Oncology patients, Administrative meetings, Public Relations, Special Events, medical education materials and lots of doctor/patient interactions.

While working at the Medical Center, I started teaching photography, at night and on the weekends, at a few local Recreation Departments.  I taught  kids, young adults and adults.  For several years,  I taught 4 or 5 different 12-week long classes of 35 people each. 

My first wedding was for an old girlfriend whose original photographer had gotten into a car wreck.  At the time, I had never even been to a wedding before.  I studied every aspect of the day, before it happened.  I loved every moment.  Since then, I have personally photographed more than 5,000 weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs and corporate special events.

I was also shooting small products for advertising, commercial buildings, food, medical tools and clothing.  I did stuff for billboards, Annual Reports, TV ads, magazines and a lot of slide shows.  Then, I started flying in helicopters and shooting from the air.

I was shooting 35mm slides, producing 18-projector, computer-controlled slide shows, shooting  video, doing aerials, shooting medical stuff,  shooting weddings and bar mitzvahs, doing commercial stuff, working special events and teaching photography.

I was getting a bit frazzled.

In 1985, I started my own business, calling it "The Media Master" because I could do so much. 

At some point in time, I decided that it was time to leave my hospital family behind.   I could not continue to juggle all of my deadlines.  That was the hardest decision I have ever made.  I owe the St. Francis Medical Center a debt of gratitude.

In 1986, my wife, my little brother and I opened our first 3,000 square foot studio and photo lab in Santa Ana. 

We did computer-generated slide shows, Construction,   Product, Catalog, Scientific, Commercial, Aerial, Food, Advertising, Legal, Architectural, Medical, Industrial, Public Relations, Special Events,  Political photos and a lot of weddings. 

We served all of the West Coast and Southern California, including   Orange County, San Bernardino County, The Inland Empire, Los Angeles County, San Diego County and Riverside County. 

Within a few years, our studio grew to almost 6,000 square feet.  We designed and built a 30' helium-filled blimp system, to shoot low-level photos of buildings and events.  Our blimp held 40 pounds of video and still cameras.  It flew up to 700 feet in the air and it transmitted a TV signal down to our clients, on the ground.

We worked on Presidential political campaigns, shot advertising stuff for huge billboards,  produced huge slide shows, and worked in giant Las Vegas ballrooms.  We worked on new car shows and shot frozen foods in walk-in freezers.

However, in 2000, we decided that we no longer needed to work with a fixed base and studio.  We decided that we could extend our reach, nation wide , if we just shut down our local studio. 

We could go anywhere to work.  Instead of making our clients come to us, we went to them.  

Now, I just lease or rent studio and warehouse space as needed, where needed.  That has saved our clients a lot of money and time.

As always, I continue to let my clients run my business for me.   I just do what my clients ask me to do.  

My Photographic Philosophy

For me, photography has been a deeply personal, highly emotional, somewhat risky but totally satisfying profession.  I am as excited about my business today as I was 37 years ago.

No two photographers are alike.  Every shooter has his or her own very personal reasons for doing what they do.  Personalities, attitudes, ethics, money, skills, artistic sense, equipment selections, business practices and all of our personal life experiences impact on the choices we make every day. 

The final quality of every photograph is determined, to a large measure, by the sophistication of the equipment used and the innate knowledge, efforts and technical skills of the artist making the pictures. 

Photography is not easy.  This is not a game.  This is a serious business.  In some cases, peoples very lives hinge upon the quality and the content of a single image.  Businesses bank on the quality of my photos to help them market their services and products. 

My corporate clients and private families depend on me.

Like good music, good photography comes from the soul.