As a military brat I was fortunate enough to see a lot of the world as I was growing up.  My parents gave me a camera before I was eight and I loved photographing the places I visited.   I invested later in a Mamiya-Sekor SLR and later an Olympus camera with lots of lenses.  Those were the days when everything was manual so you really had to know how cameras work.  I eventually earned a Master’s degree in electrical engineering and exercised my left brain for many years in the electronics industry. 

When I finally went digital with my Nikon a whole new world opened up.  Photographing people is so much fun.  The technical side is a challenge but I get to re-awaken my right brain as we work for that great pose and expression that gives you that OMG feeling that you and the model have just created something extraordinary.   Our goal is to collaborate to produce something better than our photographed subjects have ever had before.  Sometimes you get there and sometimes you don’t but the journey should always be fun.

I work with my wife, Rita.  One model said that Pat “focuses on making a perfect picture, while Rita  focuses on helping the model, and surroundings look perfect!”  This is a case where two heads are better than one.  Rita makes sure hair is coiffed perfectly and wardrobe looks right in addition to providing input on poses and expressions.  Romantics at heart, we are always looking for that perfect combination of light and subject that looks good to us and strikes inspiration in others.

I would have to say that it was in 7th grade when I was 13 years old when I got my induction to wardrobe and obtaining some fashion sense. It was actually thrust upon me as my parents divorced and Dad said, “If you want clothes to wear, you will just have to make them yourself”.

I remember how I was in a ‘fix’ four years later with nothing to wear for my High School Prom. I had used up my fabrics early that year so I took inspiration from ‘The Carol Burnett Show’, and ‘Gone With The Wind’, and actually made my dress out of my bedroom curtains!! 

By the time I got out of high school, I really liked making my own clothes, because by then I could also design, and fashion what ever I thought of.  I really enjoyed the challenge.

For my son’s high school I would help fashion different parts of the Drama Department shows and when my son got the lead in the musical ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’,  my son and I designed and sewed the multitude of colors in the coat.  

Now I seldom sew, but have progressed to searching for and finding various and interesting, sometimes provocative, outfits for models to choose.  I have even procured outfits for special requests.

I provide rental choices, not only in clothing, but also accessories, shoes and jewelry.  I am also adept at make-up and hair styling.  I take pride, with my husband, Pat, in determining the best location for outdoor shoots, and designing and setting up indoor and studio sets.  Pat makes sure the images are fabulous INSIDE the camera and  I make sure the images are fabulous on the OUTSIDE of the camera.

Many have told us that we make a great team.