| Born in Nashville Tennessee, I am the third of six children. I am fortunate to have been raised by dedicated and loving parents in a home environment that was unconditionally supportive. Although both parents are now deceased, I remain evermore close and committed to my siblings. Throughout my childhood, I exhibited a fascination for how things worked and tinkered endlessly. I was a geek before geek was a the term. When I was seventeen, my boss handed me his 35mm camera, explained the relationship between f-stops and shutter speeds, demonstrated how to print black and white photographs. Inspired and envisioned a venue that was boundless. Fascinated, I hobbied obsessively. I attended Auburn University, but after two quarters, did not feel I was on my career (passion) path of commercial photography. I returned to Nashville and in 1974 opened a meager studio in my small apartment at 2016 Belmont Blvd. After many years building, outgrowing (actually being evicted from 4 “business” locations) and building new photo studios, in 1984 I built my last studio. This was a 7,500 sq’ facility that allowed me to run multiple photography sets, large enough to easily photograph cars and boats, back in a semi-truck and unload a department store’s product for its Christmas catalog. It was the first of its kind in Nashville. Today, the building is owned by http://www.thirdmanrecords.com, Jack White, a recording artist… how appropriate! Photography taught me accounting, budgeting, survival, lease negotiation, construction, carpentry, plumbing and electrical, how to “dance” with corporate clients, how to inspire and manage employees, how to meet an impossible deadline and how to run a business. These skills laid the foundation for future endeavors. Since photography, I have started, managed and have grown several small businesses: Invisible Fending of Middle Tennessee, Aviation Software, Air Source One. From 2005 to 2010, managed our family’s independent retail pharmacy and returned the business to profitability. Today, I work in the hospitals continuing the care of their critically acute patients. I have developed a simple psyche for embarking on unfamiliar projects. I first evaluate the consequences of failure and measure my tolerance for the risk. If the risk is too great, I simply do not pursue the endeavor. But once the consequences of risks are confronted, evaluated and accepted, then failure “is no longer an option” and never resurfaces as a controlling fear factor. Unencumbered, passion drives success. My natural curiosity guided me to other interests such as the great outdoors and dabbling in other creative arenas. I believe you can be successful at anything for which you have a passion, provided you relentlessly navigate past inevitable setbacks |