Tell us a little bit about your background. How did you get your start taking photos?
I’ve always been intrigued with photography since I was little. But it wasn’t till I got my hands on a “real” camera, a Pentax K1000, a gift from my dad when I was 16, that my love for photography escalated. In college I took some photography classes to learn how to develop pictures and tricks to creating special effects since Photoshop was not yet around. I love journalistic and black white photography so my style began to lead down that path, until Photoshop came into my life.

How would you describe your style of photography?
Surreal or fine art photography.

What is your creative process like?
I used to sketch it out and try to recreate the drawing, but I found that it usually didn’t work out that way. Sometimes pictures take on a whole new concept on their own, which is fine, because they usually end up better than I originally planned. Most of the creative process is done during editing. Experimenting, and trying different ideas.

What inspires your photographs?
Anything from paintings, movies, music videos, nature, and other photographers I admire and have been following their work for years now.

How important a part does editing and manipulation play into the final product of a photo?
For my style of photography it plays a very important part in the final product. In surreal photography, Photoshop plays a big role to give the final product that dream-like feel, especially if the photo has added elements that are out of the norm. Some photos may require quite a bit of editing and some may require very little.

Your photographs are very painterly. What are some of your favorite paintings and painters?
Before I got into photography I did some painting, and with Photoshop I can combine my two loves of art, photography and painting. I love the style of old master paintings. I grew up watching my grandfather paint. I learned a lot about art from him, and by looking at the many art books in his collection. I don’t have any particular favorite painters or paintings. Too many to pick from and I love them all.

What can we expect to see from you in the future?
I enjoy creating fine art/surreal photography so I will continue with that. I also enjoy colorizing and creating surreal scenes in old family black and white photographs. It takes a little more creative work and editing, but in the end it’s fun to see what you end up with. I’ve tried doing some colorizing of historical vintage black and white photos as well, which entails a lot of Photoshop and skill as I found out.  I love animals and I’ve included them in some of my photos. I would like to continue adding animals to my photos and maybe do a whole series of it.