Photography, for me, is a hobby. I love taking pictures because it means that I am not in the photograph. In other words, I tend to be camera shy. (What a concept, huh?) No really, I enjoy photography and the thrills it gives me. I thought that at this time I might share some of my photographic background with you.

I started taking pictures at the end of my sophomore year at Montbello High School in Denver, CO. I was a regular yearbook staff member given an ultimatum during the spring of 1990. We had just finished the yearbook and were starting the spring sports section for the next year’s yearbook. I was asked to either do three layouts of spring sports or provide ten pictures of three different sports or do some variation between the two options. I hated doing layouts and writing stories, as I didn’t consider myself to be any good at it. So I ventured into the possibilities of taking photographs. 

I told my parents and my dad pulled out his second camera and taught me some of the basics. I really had no idea what I was doing. I was fortunate enough that my dad decided to accompany me on a few shoots at school. He even took several photographs in order to help encourage me. After a few shoots, my dad gave me his second camera and some equipment to use with it as an early birthday and Christmas present that year. I was happy, nonetheless. I might have left photography there and never pick up the camera again. I really did not intend on being apart of a yearbook staff again. My yearbook coordinator wanted me to have a yearbook from that year, but I couldn’t afford one. She offered to give me one as long as I promised to work on the yearbook staff again during my senior year. I agreed.

At the beginning of my junior year I was asked by the new yearbook advisor to help out. Only one person from the previous year’s staff returned and she became the editor-in-chief. So after some coaxing, I returned to the staff and became the photo editor for that year. I had to have one of the photographers teach me about how to develop film and print photographs. All my photographs from the previous year had been sent out for developing and printing. So I had had no experience in doing my own developing and printing.  Anyhow, I worked as the photo editor and continued to take pictures that whole year. Some photographs were even published in the school’s newspaper. In all, there were 186 photographs published in that year’s yearbook that I had taken. It was at this time that I created my first portfolio at the suggestion of a friend of my dad’s, who was a photographer for The Denver Post. Because of my roll as the photo editor, I received again a yearbook from that year.

Just before my senior year began, I moved to Phoenix, AZ. I didn’t know what to expect, but I still wanted to keep my promise of being on the yearbook staff again during my senior year in high school. So I joined the staff. After the first staff meeting, I found out that the photographers were part of a separate class that met down the hall. So I implored the yearbook advisor and the photo teacher to let me into the class. All I had were the previous yearbooks that I had helped in making and the negatives from all those shoots. (I kept the negatives for grins.) I had never taken a photography course before so they were real skeptical at first and all the yearbook photographers had taken photography courses and were in the Photo 3 & 4 classes. After seeing all that I had previously done, they decided to give me a chance, a chance that paid off for them. I asked the photo teacher to teach me some more techniques during that year. 

At one point I was asked to shoot a special photograph that would act as the sports page divider. They wanted a photograph of a football player making a winning play and a referee giving the touchdown signal. Shoot both simultaneously would have been almost impossible. So I devised a different means of accomplishing the task. I would take two different negatives and combine them into the same photograph. I took pictures accordingly and got a referee to pose for me with the goal posts in the background during the half time of one of our home games. To print it, I worked off of two printers that were side by side. I wasted a lot of paper over the next couple of days. In the end, I presented to the yearbook staff three options for photographs. They loved them and had a hard time deciding which print to use.

Later that year I was asked to do another special work. I was to take charge of the slide show presentation for PROM week.  I was to take about 100 photographs and time it with music that was going to be provided for me by the Students Against Drunk Driving (S.A.D.D.) organization on campus. The presentation was expected to take about 12 minutes. On that day, a lady from the Crisis Center gave a presentation first about driving drunk. Her slides were very graphic. Then I gave my presentation with images of everyone having fun with their friends and such. There was not a dry eye in the gym. I was complimented on the presentation because after all those graphic images, people became afraid to lose their friends that same way. It was a touching moment for many people.

After graduation I went to Arizona State University for a summer program. As I went around on campus I felt a little impressed about a few photographs that I could take. I ended up taking the fountain photograph that summer (found on the special projects page). I also wrote an essay using this same photograph for my English 101 class that summer. It was my only “A” essay in that class. I was in a really romantic mood that night when I wrote it. Anyhow, when I joined the ASU Sun Devil Spark Yearbook that fall, I was able to get it published in color over a two page spread. 

I took many photographs that year. It was during this time that I began to take wedding photographs on a regular basis. I didn’t take a lot of them but I began to get exposure in that field. Please feel free to look at my wedding photographs from 1996.  Basically, I've been taking pictures of weddings ever since then. I must admit that I do enjoy taking wedding photographs. It is a great hobby for me. Because it is a hobby, I normally charge only what is sufficient to pay for all my expenses. I even travel to other cities to do the weddings. So far, I've been to Denver (CO), Sedona (AZ), Bullhead City (AZ), and Laughlin (NV). If you would like to check on my services, please write me.

Nowadays, I have two complete camera setups. Both cameras are Chinons. I enjoy these cameras. They are not as "high tech" as many of the cameras today but I feel they give me the maneuverability that I desire to have when I take photographs. Of course, you have seen some of the results of these cameras here on my site. Well, it has been nice talking to you. Please feel free to enjoy viewing the work I have done.

2005: Felt is was time for an update to this page. I now have two new cameras, turns out both the two Chinons gave out on me in early 2004. The first one that I purchased was a Pentax camera in order to utilize my old lens. The second is a Canon Digital Rebel using a whole new set of lens. I use both the Pentax and Canon cameras for weddings and everything else. It works out great in the end.

Now that you've had some time to learn about my background in photography I invite you get to know me as another form of artist, a poet.  I do not think that my poems will ever aspire to be society shapers such as Saint Augustine's or Shakespeare's prose.  But maybe, just maybe, some of my words will be of inspiration to someone.  If you would like to read some of my words, they are found on my sub-domain poetry.photogeorge.com .

Here is a link to my vacation for June 2003 in England.

Here is the link to my vacation for March/April 2004 in Greece and Turkey.

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