Stan is a native Californian. He received his education, from elementary through college, in the Los Angeles area. His love of photography blossomed during a trip to Hawaii in 1990. It was while showing the photographs from this trip that Stan met someone who would mentor him for the next two years, instructing him not only on how to get the most out of his camera, but how to get the most out of photography.
Though he has studio experience, Stan prefers to work outside of the studio. His medium of choice is color slide film for a number of reasons but mainly because, as he says, “it gives honest results.” “Digital is great, even indispensable for certain events,” he adds,” but film forces you to slow down, to get back to the fundamentals of photography.” Occasionally, he works with black and white film. He appreciates this medium for its haunting beauty and historical connotations. Stan is a fan of natural lighting, using artificial light only when absolutely necessary.
Each of his subjects has its own story to tell, whether it be the emotions expressed in the smile of a child, the history behind a 300-year-old castle, the grace and power displayed by a 25-ton jet, or the beauty of nature itself. The goal of Stan’s work is to bring the viewer into the image to experience that story. He achieves this by letting his subjects be themselves and/or studying his subjects before he photographs them.
With photography as a foundation, Stan branched out into creating and managing several websites and blogs, including a restaurant review blog (because photographers gotta eat, too). The blogs and websites have at times been the result of or the inspiration for a freelance writing career. Photography remains at the heart of all three pursuits.