My name is Tom but friends, colleagues, and clients call me Tommy. I have been active in photography during various times of my life, which on occasion is beginning to feel like a long time. I grew up in a small city in the Appalachian mountains, have traveled extensively through the U.S, visited several foreign countries, lived in several states and have lived in Washington for about 25 years. Washington is now what I call "home".
In the last several years I have made the transition from film to digital, and so far have certainly enjoyed the transition. After almost 25 years of being "packed away" I got out my old cameras, a Chinon CP-7M and a Pentax K1000. I spent time traveling (mostly as a tourist) around Washington and Oregon. After seeing the beautiful and inspiring scenery the two states had to offer I quickly discovered that being out in nature and photographing it is what makes me happy. I purchased a small "point and shoot" digital camera just to see what all the digital "hoopla" was about. The rest is now history. I now do all my work with a DSLR camera. I don't shoot with a Nikon or Canon although I will confess they are excellent cameras. I shoot with what a lot of "professional" photographers would consider an "unprofessional" camera (that would be a Pentax), but I've learned that it's not the camera that makes a professional. "A Nikon doesn't make you a professional photographer, it makes you a Nikon owner" (I read that somewhere and thought it was "catchy"). "Bells and whistles" are nice, but they make a lot of noise. I don't like noise. I go to the mountains to get away from the noise.
I do not have an ego when it comes to my work or my equipment. I like to break the rules of photography, and don't particularly care what my "peers" say about my work. The opinions of clients and their satisfaction is what's important to me. Over the years I have won several awards for my photos and have some in publication. It does not feed an ego so the names of the awards and publications which feature my photos are not important. I am not here to impress other photographers, nor am I here to criticize their work. When I photograph nature and the beautiful landscapes in Washington and Oregon, I try to convey to the viewer the experience I felt at the time I "snapped" the shutter. A lot of my photos are unedited other than an occasional "crop" and are basically straight out of camera. The images are a very good replication of what I saw at the moment. I very seldom use photoshop or other editing software unless I'm working on portraits or fantasy images .
Nature is my office so about the only way I can be contacted is by email.
Regards,
Tom
