One year following September 11, 2001 to the day, my PsyOp Detachment and I were activated and sent to Afghanistan. My team and I spent one year at firebase Camp Harriman in Orgun, near the Pakistan border. We were tasked with winning the “hearts and minds” of the people and introducing the new Afghan National Army to the people in the area.

What follows on these pages are some of the many images from the time I spent in Orgun. I had been tasked with making photographs and writing articles for the National Afghan Newspaper, in addition to the other responsibilities I had as a Team Leader.

This book documents the images of the people of Afghanistan that I lived with, their children on whom their hopes ride and the soldiers who gave their time, their love and sometimes their lives to bring freedom and peace to Afghanistan.

My time in Iraq was spent on the streets of Tikrit and helping the other members of my detachment, 21 brave men and women who delivered the messages and supported the operations of the Companies and Battalion and Brigade we were assigned too. As a Tactical PsyOp Company our mission was to be a force multiplier and to win the hearts and minds of the local nationals.

I prepared myself for this deployment with a digital camera that was mine and not one given to me by the Army as was the case when I was deployed to Afghanistan in 2002-2003. I stashed it in a pouch on my vest and when time and circumstances permitted I would make images as I could.

Our job was to go face to face with the locals and this was a very dangerous proposition at best. While we could get information to the leaders, many times we would be surrounded by small crowds of people who wanted to hear what was going on and to give their opinions about the lack of water, sewer services, electricity, fuel, food and jobs. Many of our security personnel did not like to go out with us as we were in the thick of things.

This book documents my time in Iraq from 2006 to 2007 when things were active in country. There were many soldiers lost in the units we supported and every time we left the wire every mission was fraught with danger. While you may think of the possibility of not returning that day, you push it to the back of your mind and focus on what needs to be done now. Live in the moment, do your job, and watch your buddies back. A simple code to live by.

As I started my 60th year of life, I was reminiscing on the years that had passed and the few that now remain. Legacy comes easily to mind at times like this, as humans are wont to leave something of themselves behind, something that will outlast them.

As an artist working in the medium of photography, my work in many ways has been a visual journal of my life. My camera has been with me on nearly every significant event in my life documenting what I saw and hopefully capturing how and what I felt. It is never easy to imbue a visual work of art with a sense of feeling.

The process of selecting images for inclusion in this book was a challenge. I did not have a rigid set of criteria for the images I wanted to include, I did have a loose guideline of what I wanted to include. They had to be created during the first 60 years of my life. Others were selected as a result of significant events transpiring in my life.  And still others were selected because they are beautiful to me or in some way compelled me to expand my visual horizon and growth.

In any case, I hope you enjoy the book and the images that have impacted my life over the past 60 years.

Softbound copies of the book can be purchased at Amazon HERE. And you can download a free copy of the PDF HERE.

Tulipa (tulips) is a genus of spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes, dying back after flowering to an underground storage bulb. Depending on the species, tulip plants can be between 4 inches and 28 inches high.

This is a collection of Tulips created in my studio with both digital and film images Lulu.com

Download a free PDF preview of the Windows 2022 Calendar HERE.

This year’s calendar features images of Magnolias from over 12 years of working with these wonderful flowers. Calendars are $15 and are available at Lulu.com

Download a free PDF preview of the Magnolia 2021 Calendar HERE.