A Brief, Non-Photographic Bio

As much as I enjoy photography, it's not all there is to me.  In fact, I've often wondered if my photography doesn't suffer somewhat because of my eclectic interests that have, at least outwardly, nothing to do with photographic art.

I was born in Rochester, New York and my family moved to the Baltimore area when I was one and then to the Boston area when I was five.  Three years later we relocated to the Chicago area and I've been there ever since, in effect.  Beginning in 2003 and continuing until mid-summer 2019, I split my time more or less evenly between the Chicago and Indianapolis areas.  Since late July of 2019 I have split my time between the Chicago and Houston areas.

I attended the University of Michigan, graduated summa cum laude in 1986 with a B.A. in political science, and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society along the way.  (If it sounds like I'm bragging, I guess I am; I worked my rump off in college and this is pretty much all I have to show for it.  Those four years, tangibly speaking, amounted to a handful of Greek and Latin words.)  In 1988, I received a Master's Degree from the University of Chicago in statistics and social science research methodology and have spent my working life since then as a statistician/research methodologist in the fields of public opinion and marketing research.  (My master's thesis was a study of the comparative political partisanship and ideological self-classification of college students.)

What does any of this have to do with landscape photography?  Not a thing.  Neither does what follows.

My other interests include sports--both participatory and spectator--physical fitness, current events, history (all forms) and public opinion/politics.  And my pets--lots of cats and three collies.

In the sports arena (pardon the pun), I played organized baseball (up to the semi-professional level), hockey and basketball and dabbled with tennis for many years and lots of street football.  I follow all of these sports at the professional and college level (to the extent possible).  I'm a big fan of the Baltimore Orioles; I met my wife (also a big fan) because of my interest in the team, which would certainly have cemented my affiliation if it needed any further bonding (it didn't).  I'm also a major supporter of all University of Michigan athletics, plus, at the pro level, the NHL's Boston Bruins, the NBA's Washington Wizards and, to a more modest extent, MLB's Chicago White Sox and Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL.  (I've had no favorite NFL team since the Colts left Baltimore, though I still follow the league.)

As for physical fitness, I've been lifting weights 3-4 times per week for the past 20 years and undertake a rigorous daily cardiovascular workout (since 1988).

I'm also a voracious reader, mostly of non-fiction (and most of that history--U.S. and far beyond), but I don't eschew fiction completely.  I've written a number of short stories and essays over the years and have dabbled with a novel.

So, as I mentioned earlier, none of this has any obvious positive impact on my photographic vision (such as it is).  I'm too engaged in all of my other interests to give them up, however, and I can only hope that they aren't an excessive detriment to my artistic side.