I have been a professional photographer for over 10 years. My passion for photography in emergency services has led me into an incredible life long journey of providing photos and videos of incidents real time to first responders and the communities they serve. I have gained experience and knowledge from working in the Fire Service for many years, and that has helped me to achieve becoming a full time Photo Journalist today.

I started shooting fire quite by accident, actually. I used to have a point and shoot camera and started taking shots while out hiking. My kids bought me a DSLR for Christmas about 8 years ago because they liked my nature pictures.

I had been co-organizing the annual LAPD/LAFD St. Baldrick’s event since about 2003, and got to know several photographers who would show up every year. We got to talking about fire photography, and it sounded interesting.

The guys suggested I might enjoy shooting wildfire, as they knew of my interest in nature photography, and it worked out for me to join them at the Powerhouse Fire in 2013. I was immediately hooked. The heat, the sound, the interaction between fire and the landscape, the heroic efforts by fire fighters on the ground and in the air all converged to make me feel like I had found a calling to document those events. I have a keen interest in fire aviation and shoot both fixed wing and rotorcraft whenever I can.

I have always been passionate about public safety. As a child, I dreamed of growing up to become a firefighter or police officer. In my 20s, I developed a passion for photography and slowly started to merge the two interests together.

I started to build relationships with local photojournalists as well as the first responders themselves, often sharing photos with local fire departments and news outlets. I volunteer my time and efforts to tell the stories of our local heroes, with my primary goal being public awareness. I figure that if these first responders are going to risk their lives to ensure the safety of my family and my community, the least I can do is tell their story and help the general public realize just how amazing they really are. That, and I still enjoy the adrenaline rush of getting out there and being in the middle of the action when something is going down.

For the last 40 years I have worked as a professional photographer shooting motocross, cycling, and rock concerts. I’ve held staff positions as a photo editor, assistant editor, and senior editor for many publications.

I’ve always had a passion for documenting large scale emergencies when they occur, capturing events on the front line that the public would never see otherwise. From brush fires to train accidents, I’ve done them all.

My brushfire photos have been published by most major news media websites and one of my images of the Metrolink train accident was requested for the cover of the LAFD 2015 annual report.

I always look for “the moment” when something is taking place that most people don’t get a chance to see. The key is to know your lane, and to stay clear of firefighters doing their job, and don’t put yourself at risk. Even so, the Woolsey fire burned a respect for wildfire deep into my soul.

My interest in photography started when I was growing up and developed a love for the fire service. I was chasing fires on my bike and wanted to show what I was doing. I started out with a Polaroid in 1967, and acquired my first Nikon F in 1970.

I was mentored by some of the best photographers, Boris Yaro, Joel Lugavere, and George Fry to name a few. I was hired by LAFD in 1973, and continued shooting pictures throughout my 39 year career with LAFD and my current position as a Fire Captain for La Habra Heights Fire Department.

I have been published in the Los Angeles Times, Herald Examiner, Daily News, UPI, AP and The Signal SCV. I have also been well published in many fire and EMS publications (Firehouse, Fire Engineering, Paramedics International) and newspapers around the globe.

I’ve been a professional photographer for 40 years. I worked for the Los Angeles Times as a breaking news photographer and retired in 1996, but still shoot for newspapers and magazines. Most of my news shooting has been fires, both structure and brush, plus a wide variety of other fires.

Ever since I had my first fire (it was a 4-story apartment house  —I was working for the L.A. Times), I’ve been hooked. I’ve had thousands of fire photos published and one thing I have always noticed – every fire has been different. It doesn’t matter if it’s a car, structure, brush fires, no two are alike. Fires, to me, are spectacular and offer numerous angles to shoot them from. I can’t imagine doing anything else.

I used to carry a heavy, cumbersome camera bag with at least three body’s and numerous lenses in it along with 20 to 20 rolls of film but with the years of improvements in photo equipment I now use just one camera (Nikon) with a Tamron 18 to 400 zoom lens. On big, usually brush fires, I’ll take an extra body and lens, with two additional batteries. I carry brush boots and a brush jacket in my car.