More than ever before, my boys became my favorite models.  Photographing them at every chance I got, I learned and practiced the vibrant subtleties of portraiture, including the need to create and manipulate an organic environment in which your subjects will not only behave naturally, but will also evoke expressions worth capturing.

that I saw everywhere, and in everyone.  If something is not beautiful, it is probably not true.

The wonderful thing about beginning with black and white photos is that it allows one to focus on one important element in a photo—form. 

if you are an aspiring photographer or artist even—carry your camera everywhere you go, for you’re damned if you don’t.

 It was no coincidence that I made every effort to follow the edict “Use Your Imagination.”  It was perhaps the greatest lesson my father had ever impressed upon me. He had those very same

without an agenda, without the compulsion to keep track of time and place, without a care to divert you away from appreciating all the glorious details of the environment that glimmers around you.

“Wisdom begins with wonder,”

However, such success also depends upon whether or not we can continue to pioneer on our own, to risk, to innovate and, on occasion—to take the long way home.

persevere and seize the day.  Seize the day.  Do not hesitate, do not procrastinate, the time is now. For it is easiest not to try, to allow all the wonderful moments that distinguish

So don't be afraid of solitude—strive for it instead. For less is more. Space, both physical and

mental, gives one room to breath, to think, to create, and conceive. For emptiness can lead to clarity, and it is often the optimal conduit for enlightenment and inspiration.

So I learned to let go of the idea that my marriage was going to improve; I let go of the fact that I missed the boys woefully; I let go of the anger and the helplessness, and I made up my mind to single-mindedly look forward and

Ultimately, to succeed sometimes one must cultivate an attitude of gratitude, of giving, and forgiving. Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.  Ralph Waldo Emerson