Jack's Bio

I first became fascinated by photography in my dad's darkroom at age 10. The eerie glow of the amber light, the trays of strange-smelling chemicals, and above all the thrill of watching an image emerge out of nothing--I was hooked. With my Brownie camera I discovered that taking and printing pictures are two parts of a whole, each with its own joys and challenges. I can't say which I love most.

In spite of my enduring passion, I took several breaks from photography, especially while getting my doctorate in psychology and learning to practice psychotherapy and sex therapy, which I've been doing for 34 years. My first book was a photo essay about male masturbation entitled Men Loving Themselves (1980). Designed to encourage erotic awareness of oneself, it stayed in print for 15 years. There was only one problem: wherever it was, people would steal it.

For me, a major turning point came in 2000 with the convergence of a high-quality digital camera (the Nikon Coolpix 990) and an amazing photo printer (the Epson 1270). Together they challenged the dominance of 35mm film and traditional printing. As I struggled to learn Photoshop, I wondered if this new-fangled photo-editing stuff could possibly match the sheer joy of a darkroom. Soon I had my answer: there's no comparison. Photoshop is the best thing that ever happened to photography since the camera.

With digital imaging, the thrill of photography has flouished for me as never before--and with it my desire to share some of my work with you here.

I have come to embrace an outlandish statement made by the French philosopher Emile Zola:

"You cannot claim to have seen something until

you have photographed it."

Silly, really--but so true.