I suppose every photographer is generally the same: they don’t just shoot one type of events or situations in their life, they shoot everything. I know that’s certainly true of myself. As to why I do it, I guess that it is my need to record what I saw and did and partly my desire to share that with others.
Concerts
I am fortunate that Fort Wayne has a host of concert venues and productions throughout the year, what with the Three Rivers Festival featuring concerts all day and nights, the Rock the Plaza concerts during the summer, and many more besides. Some of my most favorite photographs have been from concerts.
Conventions
I started attending conventions when still in college. That was almost 40 years ago. I stopped counting them when the number reached three figures, and that was over a decade ago. I may have slowed down some in the recent years but I haven’t stopped. I wish I carried a camera around with me during those early years.
Animé, Costuming and Cosplay Conventions
I didn’t get started attending animé conventions until fairly recently. I am not a fervent animé / manga fan but I do appreciate a few series. I also appreciate the energy involved from everyone, especially the people who put so much work into their costumes. They are largely the reason I love photographing these conventions.
Gaming Conventions
The first convention I ever attended was a gaming convention, GenCon X in 1977. It wasn’t until much later when costuming became a significant part of the convention experience that I started carrying a camera with me then.
Science Fiction / Fantasy Conventions
The first SF convention I attended was over leap year day in 1980, at a little convention in South Bend, Indiana. I only found out about it because I was a member of the SF club at Purdue, the SS Voyager. Little did I realize that I would become a regular attendee at such conventions for the rest of my life, but I wouldn’t be carrying a camera with me except for certain conventions, largely the biggest ones that I wasn’t going to work at, most especially the WorldCons.
Events
Family events, school events, official events: they are all part of living and a part of the history of the people involved, so of course they should be recorded.
Nature
Nature photography is sometimes overlooked, and sometimes I overlook it, but I still appreciate it.
Sports
Ever since I started doing sports videography, I haven’t done any sports photography, but through my high school years it was about all I did with my camera. Primarily, it was basketball and track and field, the former being my most favorite sport and the latter being the most visually available sport at the time of the school year. Quite a number of my photographs were published in the school newspaper and my junior and senior year yearbook. This was back in the days when I shot to film instead of digital, and even developed and printed my own photographs.
Travel
Just about all of my early experience in photography was in travel photography. My old scout troop took two summer trips to the East Coast and I documented both using my little Instamatic camera. I haven’t stopped since.
Personal Links