Who are your biggest inspirations to your start?

I have several people that inspired me. I'll start with my dad and his friend Marcia. Marcia inspired me to take the class, even though I didn't want to, I wanted her just to teach me how to take a picture with her old 35mm camera. Next would be my dad, because he bought me my first "nice" 35mm camera from Bob's Moen Photo. It was a Canon Elan II with a 75-300mm zoom. Oh boy! I was excited, that was a big lens. I give a lot of credit to my mom and grandpa for inspiring me to continue my photography. My grandpa got my first camera for me from a friend of his, it was a Pentax K1000.

I spend a lot of my free time going in and out of the La Crosse Tribune to get different tips and advice from a couple of my other mentors who inspired me, Erik Daily, Pete Thomson and Dick Riniker. I owe a lot to those guys to for taking me under their wing and helping me through my experience as a young photojournalist freelancing for the La Crosse Tribune and weekly newspapers.

Mr. Don Harvey, my high school photography teacher. From the get go, Mr. Harvey knew from the moment I started taking pictures and showing a desire for the art, that I was "different" and knew I would persue farther into the field of being a photographer for a living, and if not that a hobby I could enjoy for the rest of my life. Through the times that I had to sit in his class for an hour and a half, trying not to fall asleep when I hated photography, didn't get to touch a camera for the first two weeks, Mr. Harvey inspired me to become a better photographer through the assignments he gave me, allowing me to be his teacher's assistant, and just talking about different aspects of photography. Through Mr. Harvey's class I was exposed to one of the greatest photographers in the world, Ansel Adams. His work inspires me, because he had the desire, the skill, and the patience to take some of the greatest photographs.

I spend a lot of my free time going in and out of the La Crosse Tribune to get different tips and advice from a couple of my other mentors, Erik Daily and Pete Thomson. I owe a lot to those guys to for taking me under their wing and helping me through my experience as a young photojournalist.

Last but not least, one of my favorite things to do on my free time is spend a lot of time at what I call my second home, "Bob's Moen Photo" on Main street in La Crosse. Bob is one of the greatest mentors anyone could have. He has been so good to me as far as giving knowledge, advise, good deals on camera equipment, buying me lunch between classes from the Great Wall Chinese restaurant across the street, enjoying a can of Mountain Dew when I'd come down just for camera talk, and even some of his dry sense of humor when I bring in a nice photograph that I took for him to look at, and he says, "Ohhhh well that's nice, who took that?" Thanks Bob you're the greatest!!

Who are your greatest inspirations to photography?