An Autobiography :
“Show and Tell” was always a favorite part of the school day for me. Then there was that seventh grade science project … making a pin-hole camera out of a cardboard Quaker Oats “box”. Then watching the small black and white images appear like some kind of magic in the bottom of a plastic tray filled with Dektol developer, all the while standing in a pitch dark clothes closet listening to some new group called the “Beatles” playing on the radio. Mix that with the later discovery that the perks of being the “official high school photographer” included being able to ride to the “away” football games on the marching band bus along with the cheerleaders and having a seat reserved high atop the press box on the fifty-yard line … and you have someone who is destined to become a “photographer”.

I am fascinated by nature and science. So it was off to Ohio State University for a B.S. in Environmental Biology. (I didn't realize it at the time, but studies in geology, botany, zoology and psychology make an excellent background for a nature and landscape photographer).  Then along came the “Blizzard of 78”.  Way too cold, so I loaded up the U-Haul and moved to Florida. And out came the camera. So many interesting things to photograph … sea turtles and Space Shuttles, windsurfers and lightning.  Time for a few journalism courses at the University of South Florida. Had my "first story" published in the Sunday editon of the Chicago Sun.

 Soon I was photographing boats for “Sailing Magazine” and helping to rescue injured sea turtles and porpoises for the Clearwater Marine Science Center. And back to the football stadium. This time it was on the sidelines of the “Tampa Bay Buccaneers” and photographing NFL Cheerleaders for the Miller Beer Calendar. After practicing on fast moving quarterbacks, it was on to fast moving jet planes. Annual reports for Tampa International Airport (seventeen annual reports makes TPA my longest standing client). I still am in wonder every time I watch one of those “big birds” lift off from the runway!

I have been very fortunate, and over the years assignment projects have taken me around-the-world four times, to forty-nine States (I do need to visit North Dakota some day ... in the summertime) and  to numerous islands in the Caribbean and the South Pacific.  When the assignments were completed, I would stay extra time and photograph landscapes, people that I would meet, and the “wonders of the world” for my own personal collection of images.

Occasionally I make “self assigned” trips, just so I am able to photograph a particular location in “peak season”. I am doing more of that lately. Holland during spring tulip time … Colorado when the wildflowers are at peak … the winter Monarch butterfly migration to Mexico.

My recent efforts have been directed towards the field of “Visual Therapy”.  Creating images that instill a sense of tranquility and relaxation for people in stress filled environments.  I find personal gratification in knowing that an anxious hospital patient might experience the calming effects of one of my peaceful garden or tropical beach images.

The current technology of wide-format giclee printers allows me to print excellent quality prints right here in the studio. Being able to run test prints and make adjustments in tone and color balance enables me to produce prints with all the color and clarity that I remember from the experience of "being there". It is really exciting to be able to “stay with an image” from the time the shutter is clicked to when a completed photographic print is rolled into a tube for shipping. I am finally able to “Show and Tell” how I see and experience the world.

David Lawrence