My 1974 Business Card

 

My Story

In June of 2003, I was invited by Dr. Lennart Moller of Stockholm, Sweden to participate in a book entitled Images in Science pictured on the right. It was the first time in my 30+ year career that I had been invited to share my career story and photography. I am not sure whether this was the catalyst or if there were other reasons but I became interested in sharing my career story on my web site.

I have been frequently asked how I got into this field –  sometimes by prospective students – and the following is my story.

Before getting started, I will share that I feel incredibly fortunate to have created a life where photography is interwoven into my professional and personal life. Photography still gives me great joy. Some days I feel like someone is watching out for me, but the truth of the matter is that my life has been a series of events based on taking chances and making the best of each opportunity. In each phase of my life, whether it was my parents, my teachers, my coaches, my wife, my kids or my friends, I have been fortunate to be surrounded by love, support and good advice. Whether I am making photographs, studying or writing about photography, or simply enjoying snapshots on social media, I have developed a deep appreciation for good photography. The career i have built is the by-product of working very hard for a very long time. I also built a network of collaborators and enjoy the feeling of satisfaction that can only come after many years of dedication to one's passion. Although I am not superstitious, I have experienced many things in my life that are difficult to explain.


At this point in my life, I cannot imagine doing anything else. I learned early on, that there would be no guarantees and that I could create my own opportunities through hard work. By giving freely of myself I have been the direct beneficiary of so any rewards. The former principal of my children's elementary school once gave me a plaque that still has great meaning. The message on the plaque shares "The more you give, the more you will receive". This philosophy has been a guiding principle in my life. I learned at a young age by watching my parents how were big on volunteering how important giving freely was.

NETWORKING has also been an equally important tool. Not being shy, I have often meet new people in unexpected places. I have found many of my collaborators along a pathway that often I was not seeking. Sometimes I wanted something that did not happen but when one door closed, a new one opened.

I also learned that opportunities may only come once and that you must be prepared to act on them or be left wishing you had. I have found there rarely are second chances. To that end, I have taken full advantage of every chance not knowing where the opportunity might lead or who I might meet along the way. I have also - like so many - experienced rejection and adversity along this path. Nothing has been easy but it has been very exciting. I also challenge myself and live frequently outside of my comfortable zone. Without new experiences to shape new thinking, nothing can change

Utica, New York
I was born in Utica, New York in 1956 to Barbara and Richard Peres. My dad moved to Utica to work for Brooks Brothers and met my mom in 1954. My mother’s father was a jeweler and he had a small jewelry business located on Bleecker Street that my Dad worked in. My grandfather died in 1957 and so I never got to know him however my grandmother was very special. I can remember many visits to her 2003 Baker Avenue duplex when I was growing up. Utica at the time was a city of 125,000+ residents and was a fun place to be a kid. I have one sister Abbe, who was born in 1958. We were fairly typical kids and enjoyed a fun childhood visiting my other Grandmother in New Jersey each summer. We also would take trips to the Adirondack mountains which were just north of Utica and visit Old Forge and the Enchanted Forest amusement park. Each winter – for as long as I can recall – my father built a skating rink in the backyard which helped me develop a great love of winter, or maybe not.

I attended John F. Hughes Elementary School and I remember a few grammar school teachers. Mrs. Carmella Catera is one that I recall with fondness. I was in her Introductory Physical Science class - a sort of accelerated class at the time - where I learned about titration, distillation as well as environmental awareness. She was way ahead of her time in the earth movement and she made her students aware of man’s influences on the environment. Good teachers, as I look back really influenced me. I can remember the joy of being challenged to learn and develop attitudes about life right from the beginning. Education was a core family value. Education was a vital in ingredient for success and there were no short cuts to being successful. Hard work and perseverance were characteristics of successful people

My grandfather went to Harvard, was a NJ state beach volleyball champ. He was a dentist. My grandmother was from a respected and educated family and all of my uncles and relatives on both sides of the family were either physicians, lawyers or successful in business. My dad also loved sports, which rubbed off on me at a young age. While I played little league baseball and I also made the John F Hughes school baseball team, it was apparent early on that I would not be a professional athlete :). My minor league baseball team went 1-18. I also played in several “rec” basketball, bowling, and golf leagues. I was always doing something that involved athletics. While not very good, I loved the challenge and competition during that phase of my life.


High School
When I finished grammar school, I went to Utica Free Academy, which was one of the 3 Utica Public high schools in 1970. High school was a challenging period of time for me, which seems to be the case for many teenagers. I was trying to find myself and it was my age of enlightenment. My high school was large with over 1200 students. It was an inner city school with kids from all sorts of backgrounds and it was very exciting to me. I was studying in the college prep program because going to college was always in my master plan. I took mathematics, social studies, English, various lab science classes, and German classes. I tried out for various sports teams and made NONE except golf. I was a pretty good student but not a great. I managed the freshmen basketball team and l became the score keeper for the football team. I also got interested in boy scouts and I went to Cedarlands Boy Scout wilderness camp in the Adirondack mountains for 3 week camping trips.

As my high school years progressed, I continued to take traditional college prep classes and became the varsity basketball team manager. I also played varsity golf and was active in scouting. As a consequence of some good luck, I was selected to attend a Boy Scout World Jamboree in Japan. The jamboree was held at the foot of Mt Fuji in June of 1972. As part of the trip, I would tour Kyoto and Tokyo as part of the 3 week visit.



1972 looked like this.
By some strange destiny - while at the Jamboree at the foot of Mt Fuji in 1972 amongst the thousands of Scout troops from all over the world - Japan was hit by a typhoon. The storm wiped out all the camps and all scouts were evacuated to various safe places until the storm subsided. I ended up in a Shinto shrine with hundreds of campers from other countries including the Nigerian scouts. It was here that I first met Prosper Igboeli, who at that time was a Scout from the East Central State of Nigeria, formerly the Biafran Republic. Prosper and I became immediate friends and he shared his dream to come to the U.S. and become a doctor. He desperately wanted to become a physician so he could return to Nigeria and open a hospital dedicated to his parents Margaret and Moses. His father - Moses - was a general in the Biafran army during the revolution and fought for independence from Nigeria. When the war was lost, he was executed which profoundly affected Prosper and motivated him in ways I could not always comprehend.


Upon returning, I was excited to tell my family about Prosper and I could barely control myself. As a consequence of much hard work and generosity from my family, Utica College, the Utica Kiwanis club and many others, Prosper was admitted to Utica College in spring 1973. Prosper immediately became a member of my family and his influences on me were significant.

First his courage and tenacity to work tirelessly was beyond my comprehension and was evident in everything he did. He graduated from Utica College in less than 2 years and did so as the Salutatorian. He worked at a local hospital studying genetics and evaluated whether it might be possible to read fingerprints to determine if a person's long term health might be visible there. Following UC, he was accepted into the Upstate Medical School where he also excelled.

For the sake of space and time, I will jump to the current state of this extraordinary story to share that Prosper did indeed open a hospital in Aba, Nigeria called the M & M Hospital and he has become an infertility expert. He travels all over the world, provides frequent lectures, and maintains a rigorous medical schedule. He recently served as the medical director of the Nigerian Medical Association.

 


As I finished my junior year in high school, I watched Prosper’s work ethic and I too thought I was destined to go to medical school. I continued to take the required curriculum, which I hoped would get me into a good college but for some unexplained reason, I signed up to work for the high school yearbook as the co-editor of the sports section. It was in this role that I was first introduced to photography by Rick Kozak (right), the school newspaper and yearbook photographer. Rick also had a home darkroom and from that moment, nothing was to remain the same for me and my interests.

After the first time I watched Rick develop b & w film and print pictures in his home darkroom, I was smitten, and I mean smitten with the power of the picture and the process. I could not get enough of photography. Another friend of mine, let me borrow his enlarger and I used my family’s Kodak Instamatic 126 camera to take pictures. I shot Kodak 126 Verichrome pan film and I developed my film in the family bathroom using Kodak Microdol-X. It was intoxicating. At that same time I was working as a bag boy at at a local supermarket and eventually saved enough to buy my first camera, a Minolta SRT 101 camera with a 50mm lens. I took that camera everywhere and it was always loaded with Kodak Tri-X Pan film. It was my necklace. I took pictures of everything. Nothing was too ordinary or boring. Rick and I often took road trips around the Utica area photographing. I made portraits of dogs and friends. I photographed weddings and I made product pictures and everything else. I was emotionally connected to photography but my plan was remained to go to college and study pre-medicine.


Several frames from my first roll of film - Kodak 126 Verichrome Pan

 

I had never been exposed to "applied art” in any meaningful way before this opportunity and I am not sure working on a yearbook would be considered an art form but this was first time I had experienced the process of creating something. No one in my family was an artist nor did anyone produce crafts besides knitting. I had taken one required art class in grammar school but photography was new to me. During my youthful blindness to reality, photography seemed to open doors everywhere I went. During the summer of 1973, Rick Kozak and I and set off to create a Book about Utica New York, [something we never finished]. Many of the photographs I made are still favorites. I must have shot one hundred - 36 exposure rolls of Tri-X pan film during the summers of 1973 and 1974. I also got better in the darkroom and remained the manager of the basketball team when I got to practice my photography for and of the team.

I applied to and was accepted into Bradley University in Peoria Illinos in their pre-medical studies program. One of most unexpected successes beyond those mentioned was being selected for the School's Citizenship Award, which seems in some ways more important to me now than using the lens of time.

As I reflect on that era, I had youthful naivete' and everything seemed like magic to me. Scholastics, athletics and photography were all rolled into one seamless life that I was creating. I seemed to want adventures and prepared to attend Bradley, my Dad’s alma mater. They had a good pre-med program, they had an excellent division I basketball team and photography classes which I could take in addition to the required biology coursework. At 18, it seemed like the right thing to do not really knowing where it would take me.



College
As a freshmen in the fall of 1974 and then January 1975, I had the usual adjustment problems. I was home sick some of the time and I knew only one person in Peoria. My father however had some friends from his time in Peoria [1951] including the Bradley men's varsity basketball coach - Joe Stowell and a former friend - Harry Erlichmann - who owned a recycling company, I. Erlichman and Sons. I immediately got a job working for Harry on Saturday mornings at the recycling company where I operated the scale and bought recycled paper and used aluminum. I also hung around the gym every day and watch the basketball team practice. I asked the Coach Stowell if I could photograph practices that year and tried to acclimate to my new surroundings. As the year progressed, I became a paid tutor for the basketball team and maintained my own good grades in my biology studies. School was going great and the Elrichmans "adopted" me as their Peoria son. I now know how vital that supportive emotional connection was for me. Being more than 1000 miles from home. Their love and support during my four years in Illinois enabled me to flourish as a young man and have the confidence to take chances.

 
Harry Erlichman, Galesville, Illinois 1999
Joe Stowell in his home in front of some my pictures, 1999

 

During my second year at Bradley, I got a new job working for the Audio Visual services dept as the student photographer. I worked in this department for the remaining 3 years I was at Bradley. During each year there was a new staff photographer hired. They included Jay Boresma, Daryl Littlefield, Mike Summerville and John Kujowoa. I learned much from each of them and I loved working there. Although it mostly on the job training. That was a very practical body of knowledge that I was gaining. I developed color slides in an E-4 sinkline, I made duplicate slides using Kodak Slide Duplicating Film, I processed and printed all the department’s b&w films including 35mm and medium format. I also shot most of the University's evening events such as retirement parties, alumni activities and other non-critical events. I cleaned sinks and mixed chemistry. I made title slides using Kodak Vericolor Film and ibecame the University photo tech for all darkroom chores. The best part of the job was that I wa given a key to the department and had access to the facilities during the evenings and weekends. I cannot begin to tally the thousands of hours I spent in that darkroom during my time at Bradley. It is easy to see that it was a time of great learning how to usew materials and be a photographer. Although I amassed much photomechanical knowledge there, I also was learning the approaches required to be professional photographer. I was "paying my dues and putting in my time in with blind ambition becasue i loved nothing else as much. With each experience I learned something new and became even more curious. One of my specific recollections of the time was making 4' x 6' prints using 100 foot rolls of paper and developing the prints using sponges soaked in chemistry in a huge sink and with no trays. To my knowledge those big prints are still displayed at Bradley in the Robertson Memorial Field House.

 

 

 
My first published photograph
Utica Observer Dispatch
May 1975
Peoria Weekender newspaper feature cover
May 1976
Another photograph published
Peoria Journal Star - April 1977

I first got exposed to biomedical photography while working on my biology degree. As a pre-med student, I took courses in all the usual courses including biology I, II and III, genetics, biochemistry, botany, histology, anatomy and physiology as well as the other lab sciences and mathematics. I had fantastic professors while at Bradley including Dr BJ Mathis and Dr Bjorklund who were incredibly supportive of my interests in photography as a bio major. After several early humbling experiences trying to photograph my biology experiments, I became immersed in trying to photograph biology as I worked on my class assignments. I took 4 photography classes including photojournalism with Howard Goldbaum and fine art photography with Francois DeChamps. While studying ecology with Dr Mathis, I was exposed to entomology and preparing insects for study and Dr Bjorklund exposed me to histology and more importantly the microscope. These important professors sponsored 2 independent studies where I had my first true experiences in photographing through a microscope and creating science photographs.

So i was working for the A-V Services department and the biology department, and the recycling company and then Coach Stowell invited to me to manage the Bradley University varsity basketball team. He wanted me to be a full time tutor for the players( when necessary) and the official team photographer. Coach Stowell loved pictures and loved giving pictures away as gifts to benefactors of the program. For the next 3 years, I worked a 12 month year being the team student manager performing all the various tasks such as preparing the gym and lockers for practices and road trips, cleaning up the locker room after practices, and other chores as delegated. Additionally, I made pictures for the team and University and in this capacity, I also traveled with the team and eventually visiting Madrid where we played in a Christmas 1976 tournament.


Life After College
I started Bradley in January 1975 and I graduated in December 1978. When I graduated I was in no hurry to leave Peoria and I tried to unsuccessfully to break into the medical photography field. I interviewed all over Illinois including Chicago. Someone suggested I consider going back to school and attend RIT where I could learn the special skills required for the field of medical photography. Someone also suggested I join the Biological Photographic Association, now the Biocommunications Association. At the time, I was stubborn and not ready to return to school again or return to Utica, so I took a job with Charles Twing, the owner of Charles Twing Photographer and the Slide Factory located in Peoria. This was the perfect job for me right out of college. Chuck was never there and in a very short period of time, I became the day-to-day manager of his business. In fact, he had just rented a new space, so I became the designer/ renovator of the space as well as coordinated the move from the old locaation to his new location. The Slide Factory was a custom lab that processed E-6, made slide duplicates, processed and printed B & W films as well as copied paper documents onto slide film. It was an ideal job for me because it really built on skills I had been using at the A-V services department at Bradley, except now the clients were companies like Caterpillar Tractor who paid real money for the work. So by day, I worked 10 hour shifts and at night I partied and photographed with my friends.

In the summer of 1979, I decided working in a photo lab was not going to help me become a photographer and moved on to new opportunities on the East Coast. I once again applied to hospitals all across New York state, including the University of Rochester where I was told that medical photography was not going to be a good field for me. I was very frustrated in my inability to open any new doors and I had not ever experienced this level of rejection. Just when I was most dejected, a door opened at Main Street Photography in Syracuse, New York. MainStreet was owned by Bob Lorenz and managed by Lynn MacMahill. Bob hired me because he wanted to to develop E-6 films in-house and I had extensive experience in that area. I loved being in a photography studio and my work went was going to go in a new direction. The Studio did a lot of catalogue work for Gladding corporation as well as public relations work for the Syracuse New Times and Syracuse Stage. I was now making pictures while still developing film and runnign our in-house lab services. Every day provided new problems to solve.

I helped purchase a Colenta film processor and kept the chemistry in-control as much as that was possible with a rotary tube machine. I made some photographs as well and kept the studio clean and organized. It was an awesome situation, except I was earning such a small salary that I could not pay all of my bills (all of the time). My parents were helpful but suggested this “life-style and career” might need to be re-examined because I could not support myself. I still had the dream of becoming a medical photographer and I reluctantly decided to visit RIT where I met the real GURU of the field at the time and my soon to be mentor - Nile Root. I begrudgingly applied to RIT after the visit because I still felt like I could make it on my own. In the months that followed the visit there was no response from RIT and I continued with my work at MainStreet with the thoughts I was not going to RIT.


 

Rochester Institute of Technology
In May of 1980, I received a letter from RIT sharing I was accepted into the summer transfer program that would begin June 1. At first, I was very hesitant to accept this opportunity and it took a lot of persuasion from my parents for me to begin see the advantages of going back to school. I did enroll and immediately was engrossed in the most intense experience of my photographic life( to date), the “summer transfer program”. The courses ran Monday through Fridays 8am to 6pm for 11 weeks. The course provided an equivalent of the entire first year, a 30 week curriculum. This course was incredible on many levels. I was eating, breathing and sleeping photography and it was thoroughly intoxicating since I was really learning about how the materials and processes functioned. My work improved exponentially in a very short time. I was learning to control the processes of photography rather than being controlled by the process.

When summer was over, the school year resumed at a normal pace. I also took a job with Mel Simon Inc, in another custom color lab, where I processed E-6, C-41 and produced custom slide duplicates. I worked 20 hours a week for Mel at very unusual hours since my class schedule dictated when I was available and his business was also very flexible. It is interesting to see now how my life seemed to have reoccurring cycles. I continually found myself in a lab developing other people's films while I was trying to becoming a photographer. While at the lab I did a lot of custom slide work for Xerox and made fine art prints for a successful B & W artist in town.

Because I transferred to RIT with a BA degree, my academic schedule was very compressed. In fact, I only took photography classes while at RIT. I studied close-up photography, photomicrography, high speed photography, photographic instrumentation, color theory, and so many other subjects during the next 75 weeks. In school, I studied with many important giants from the field. I took courses from Les Stroebel, Richard Zakia, Ira Current, John Compton, Nile Root and Andrew Davidhazy to name a few. There were many other faculty with whom I studied, but this was core group that taught the classes that I was required to take. Being in school was incredibly stimulating for me. I was exposed to the work of great photographers such as Lennart Nilsson and Arnold Newman. I also met Josef Karsh and Annie Lebowitz. Everyday there was something new to learn or do including how to make fine B & W prints using the Ansel Adams zone system. I also was very fortunate to have access to a home darkroom in the basement of long time family friend. This darkroom became my second home. It was in a coal cellar and had a dirt floor. It was full of spiders and was a great space to print because of its isolation. In the 1.5 years that I used this space, I would guess I made no less than 2000 prints.

In 1981, I met my wife - Laurie Greenberg who changed my life forever. Laurie was exciting and fun to be with. She loved life and was very spontaneous. One Thursday evening after my night class I went to a local bar. Laurie happened to be there with a broken leg and one of her friends. She hobbled up to the bar and we hit it off immediately. She has such a great wit and laugh. We really bonded from the start. From that night forward we seem to do everything together. She came to the darkroom with me while did my homework, she went to the school lectures, events and became an increasingly important part of my life. I knew in a few months that in that chance meeting I had found my life partner.



As the summer of 1981 I applied to the prestigious Johns Hopkins Hospital to work at the pathology lab under the supervision of Raymond “Pete” Lund.


JHU was well regarded both nationally and internatiionally in the field and Pete was legendary for the organization that he had built. I started June 1981 and spent a very exciting summer working in their lab with my RIT lab partner, Larry Newell. Again by some strange coincidence, I met a future boss, Larry Koffer. Larry was one of the supervisors in the photo department. We worked well together. He had a great sense of humor and was a very hard worker. Our days in the lab were very intense because the lab produced all jobs in one day or less. Every morning started with each employee rolling out a 100 foot bulk roll of film which made 18 - 36 exposures rolls. The lab produced slides, prints, and all services such as surgical photography, photomicrography and passports. It was a beehive of activity with people frantically trying to get all work out by 5pm. Baltimore was also a fun place to live for the sumer, especially in a dormitory.

I also met for the first time a dear and long time professional colleague Norman Barker, RBP who started wokring that same summer. Now 2020, he contiunes to serve as the pahtology photography department director.


Laurie and I circa 1983

With Norman Barker, Images from Science 3, November 2019

 

Medical Photographer
I completed RIT February 1982 and at the time, the U.S. economy was in awful shape. I could not find a job anywhere. I must have sent out 200 resumes and no one was hiring. So I took a job working at Carhart Photography Store. It earned some money and it allowed me to stay in my apartment while I continued to look for meaningful employment. In June of 1982, I secured aposition as the medical photographer for the Charleston Division of the West Virginia University. Medical Center. I moved to West Virginia with Laurie where I worked for almost 2 years. I loved the job. I was the only medical photographer in the state and I provided all photographic services to multiple departments and hospitals. The WVU facility had fantastic equipment and color slide film developing equipment. I was making pictures daily in surgery, in the patient wards, and in the studio. I produced slides from books and other printed materials. Now 10 years removed from Bradley, I was performing services that were similar to first professional job in the AV dept. at the University.

In May of 1983, Laurie and I were married.

Charleston Area Medical Center Surgical Photographer

During my time at WVU, I became board certified as a biological photographer. I earned the Registered Biological Photographer designation through a rigorous examination process. This certification program was supervised by the BPA allowed me to become a registered biological photographer. I won several awards for my scientific photography from the Nikon Small world competition and the BPA. While in Texas attending a BPA meeting, I met Michael Sarnacki, who was attending from Detroit, Michigan. Before going to Dallas for the meeting in August of '83, I had accepted a position at Henry Ford Hospital to work with Larry Koffer, my former supervisor from JHU.

 

Medical Photographer Coordinator

In September of 1983, I moved to Detroit and started at Henry Ford Hospital where I was a coordinator of the medical photography department. It was large department and offered photography, graphics and medical television services. The department had an operating budget of $700,000 and 15 employees. The photography section, produced more than 125,000 slides and 65,000 prints for educational and research applications. The department was located in 2 place. One lab was in the hospital and produced all the patient pictures while the production lab was housed in another location where E-6 processing and other services were performed. We also had a student training program where students could learn on the job and work towards their certification(RBP) exams. While at HFH, I had the pleasure to work with some exceptionally motivated and smart students where I practiced teaching. During this time, I made several presentations, and continued to win awards for my scientific photography.

While in Detroit, I befriended Michael Sarnacki. Michael and I were similarly dedicated to photography. Michael had founded the Michigan Friends of Photography, he ran a photo gallery in his own home and was very active in the arts. He worked a day job as a medical photographer at Oakwood Hospital and in the evenings, did his art. Michael introduced me to the who’s who in Detroit photo art community and soon I was participating in local art projects, shows and festivals.

At the time I participated in a number of art festivals in Ann Arbor, Birmingham, and Pontiac Michigan as well as the Cornhill Arts Festival in Rochester, N.Y.

Heading to RIT
In January 1986, Nile Root my former professor, wrote to me to let me know there was going to be a faculty position in the imaging and photo technology dept at RIT. He thought I should apply. In late March I traveled back to RIT where I interviewed in front of the same faculty that just 5 years earlier were my teachers. It was strange to say the least and rather intimidating. Later that month I received an offer to be an instructor in the IPT department which I accepted. One month later, Nile announced his plans for retirement and I was a little disappointed in that I would not be in the Biomed dept but thrilled beyond words to be a member of the RIT Photo School faculty.

A strange twist to this story occurred in the summer of ‘86. While participating in the Cornhill Arts festival I ran into Martin Scott, the director of scientific imaging at Eastman Kodak. Martin was also an important advisor to the school. I shared my disappointment at not being part of Biomed since I had worked for 5+ years as a biomedical photographer and I was board certified. As we were preparing to move to Rochester in mid August, the phone rang. The call was from then Biomed program director, Bill DuBois who asked if I would consider transferring from Tech Photo to Biomed. Without hesitation, I was on board with the idea.

In August of 1986 - I became an instructor in the Biomedical Photographic Communications department.

Becoming a Professor
This chapter of my career is still being written. Teaching at RIT has been an extraordinary journey and one that has not been easy, nor what I expected. By far its been the hardest job I ever had. Teaching is very challenging and so very rewarding. During my 35+years, technology has changed and so has the role of photographic practices. Consider that for a minute I started before the Internet....

During my first few years, I was consumed with the basic activities all new teachers must go through. I was terrified that I would be horrible in the classroom. Developing new courses and subsequently my teaching materials seemed like an impossible and never ending task. Concurrently I was working on my masters degree in Instructional Technology. I was very lucky to be befriended by some valuable friends who helped make the path easier and I am forever grateful to them for their constant help, guidance and contributions during my formative years.

1986-1987 1987-1988 1988-1989 1989-1990

These special people would include Martin Scott who was a frequent benefactor and guest lecturer to my classes; Roger Loveland whose vast knowledge about the microscope was truly inspiring was freely shared when I was just starting out; H.L.Gibson whose help while producing a manuscript for my first chapter in a technical book established a new confidence I desperately needed; Jack Vetter’s invitation to write the Close Up and Photomacrography Chapter in the Biomedical Photography book he edited was an incredible coup in my new career; Sally Robson constant offering of encouragement, guidance and resources as my career evolved; and Leon LeBeau and Michael Coppinger who visited my photo 2 classes for more than 14 years sharing their passion for laboratory photography as well as ophthalmic photography respectively. I was in awe of John Delly and his writings and the Biological Photographic Association was also an important organization for me because of the contacts I made. It was also place where I could really practice presenting and publishing. Teaching at the Annual Rochester workshop, speaking at the annual BioComm meeting and publishing in the Journal of Biological Photography were valuable actvities in my professional development back in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Dick Norman was maybe the most helpful person of the first phase of my RIT career because he helped me fabricate imaging devices necessary to photograph my projects.
Dr Leon J LeBeau @ RIT, 1991 Michael Coppinger @ RIT 1992
In 1988 my son Jonathan was born and in 1990, my daughter Leah followed. Similar to all the important changes in my life, these 2 beautiful children have given me perspective and helped me be directed and to be the type of father I wanted to be. There has not been one dull moment in our house with all the various activities we have experienced with them. Soccer, dance, floor hockey, scouts, religious school, running and basketball are just a few of the extracurricular events beyond the normal activities associated with their schooling. And now college has begun for them as well. It is a great source of pride of mine to watch them and see them evolve in the next phases of their lives.

During my career at R•I•T, I have completed a Master’s degree in Instructional Technology along with so many other important benchmarks. In 1989 I was appointed department chair and in 1999, I was promoted to the rank of full professor. It has been quite a ride and you can read more of my professional history in my CV if you are interested.

Being professionally active has been a very important component of my career and that influences almost everything I do in the classroom. I feel being active is a core component of my job responsibility to the field and my students. I have authored numerous publications, presented many oral papers and conducted a lot of imaging related workshops in locations such as Canada, Sweden, Tanzania, Germany, the Netherlands, Autstria, the UK, AUstralia and all over the USA. I have been a member of Bio-Communications Association, formerly the BPA since 1978 and I am a member of the Ophthalmic Photographer's Society. In 1996, I was invited by Staffan Larsson and Jonas Brane to create and deliver a one-week hands-on course for PhD students in Stockholm Sweden investigating photography through the microscope. The workshop was to be modeled after the BPA workshop. This course is still running some many years later with the generous sponsorship of the Karolinksa Institute. This course helped position me professionally in a new way and provided a greater international visibility which has lead to many other new opportunities. I now also teach at Umea Institutet. In 1997, I was invited to serve as the Chair of the Lennart Nilsson Award Nominating Committee, which has been a fantasy. To work with Lennart is beyond words. The only analogy I can think that is appropriate is that I get to play along side of arguably the world’s most famous biomedical photographer. I also serve as one of the Co-Coordinators of the annual R•I•T Big Shot(www.rit.edu/cias/bigshot) project which continues to amaze me. Started in December 1987 as a way to teach Biomedical Photography students how to solve complicated probelms using simple equipment, it has become a signature RIT event. In October 2003, Big Shot photographed the Royal Swedish Palace as part of the Lennart Nilsson Conference and in April 2007 we photographed the Pile Gate in Dubrovnik, Croatia. March 2013, Big Shot focused itself on Cowboy Stadium in Dallas Texas. Visit the Big Shot page

In 2001, I was interested in developing and producing an exhibition of pictures made from science along with my mentor Professor Andrew Davidhazy. This idea turned into a 4 color book and a web site that to date has had almost 100,000 visitors. This exhibition was hosted by 23 venues in 9 different countries and in 2008, Images from Science 2 was launched. In April(2003), I was selected as one of the Eisenhart outstanding faculty award recipients, an Award given for outstanding teaching at the University. Winners are chosen through a rigorous peer review. I was the co-recipient of the R•I•T 2003 Paul Gitner Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Graphic Arts for my work with Professor Davidhazy on the Images from Science project. and the journey continues. One of the most remarkable accomplishments I have had was the editor in chief of the Focal Encyclopedia of Photography - fourth edition. This project, which took 4 years to complete, was one of the most challenging and rewarding opportunities I have ever experenced on any level. In some ways the experience was like taking another degree.

The years that have followed from the initial phone call I received from Bill DuBois to join the Biomed dept have become one big blur. There has not really been one dull moment and I usually cannot wait to get to campus every day. Each day is full of new adventure and my students provide an ever present opportunity to learn. I feel a huge sense of satisfaction watching the lives and careers of my former students find their way in life. I am forever grateful for the privilege to have been their teacher. They in many ways are my real heros. In all the years of being a teacher, many students have come to RIT and it would be impossible to list all of them. Many have left their mark on me in different ways. One very special person who touched my life was Mary Frantz. Mary passed away in 2003. Mary touched so many of her classmates with her passion and love of life and her smile. I will always remember her commitment to excellence and learning how to load her film reel in bed with her husband Bob while under the covers.

I am sure as I approach my 30 year anniversary, this story is not finished.
Updated March 2014.