Born and raised in California

During my lifetime, I have lived in Sacramento, Marin, Sonoma, Calaveras, and San Diego counties. During my military service with the USAF, I have lived in Illinois, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, and Mississippi and have had official military duties in 25 different countries.
My parents created a desire for adventure in me as a child. We would take two-week family trips every year. Several of those trips were to relatives' homes that owned large parcels of land in the Mid-West. These experiences created the desire to own acreage someday.
The first camera I used was my dad’s Speed Graflex with 2¼ x 3¼ inch negatives. In 1982, during my USAF aircrew years, I purchased a Pentax 6x7 on a trip to Japan for half what it would have cost at home in the USA. Then in 2006, I moved into the digital world with my first Nikon, a D300. I recently upgraded to a mirrorless Nikon Z7, 49 mega pixel camera with a Nikkor 24-70 mm lens.
My residence is in San Diego, although I own and operate the fruit and nut farm. We were full-time Calaveras residence for almost nine years. Over fifteen years ago, when I retired from the USAF after 34 years, my wife became a traveling nurse. After several 13-week assignments, we made our way to San Diego and dropped anchor.
Our children followed us to San Diego and became successful adults with families. Yes, there are grandkids, making it difficult to move back to the Ranch full-time. Someday I expect this City Slicker to be back in the saddle, tending to the trees and animals daily.
One of the benefits of living in San Diego is that we are close to Anaheim, well, okay, Disneyland. In 2009, I became a Disney Park photographer. I was responsible for creating magical images for guests and some world-famous celebrities. Working at Disneyland was a dream I thought would never happen, and being a photographer was a bonus. Creating stories within an image is what I like to do.