By 1981, I was thirty eight and had retired from the Marine Corps. I was already familiar with the technical processes of analog film, but wanted to get serious with my photography as I felt I was still at the snapshot level. I was studying art at Citrus College in Glendora College, where I was exploring critical perspectives on composition and other finer aspects of art in general.
The turning point in my development as a photographer was when I visited the Veteran's Association in West Los Angeles and chanced upon an advertisement by the Bunker Hill Art League. I attended a monthly meeting at the League and met Willie Middlebrook and Donald Bernard, who would later become my mentors. They were also the first ones to critique my work and provide a honest opinion on it, that inspired me to develop my style and content beyond the snapshots I was taking.
The Ronald Reagan administration's decision to cut the federal budget towards care and services for the mentally ill compounded the homeless problems in the 1980s. It would provide me with a subject matter that I would become involved with for that decade and revisit later in the new millennium.
Skid Row Series
In And Out Of LA
Black Wall Project
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