After Vietnam

When my tour ended I was flown back to Seattle, Washington. After several days of paperwork I was discharged and sent on my way. I decided not to go back to Rochester, New York right away. I headed to LA to spend some time with my friend Howard Sokol. I was stationed with Howard in Germany and kept in contact with him in Vietnam.

Howard had been wounded and was sent home early and discharged. His recovery was progressing and he had started a college program in photography. Of all of my Army buddies that went through the Army photography school, Howard would be the only one who went on to become a Professional Photographer. I contacted him a couple of years ago and he has been running his own studio in Denver, Colorado since completing his degree.

After spending about a week in Southern California I flew back home to Rochester, New York. I had hoped to start a photography business right away without going to college. Big mistake. I had no idea what I was doing. On top of that I was trained in black and white photography and I wanted to shoot color. I set up a black and white lab in my basement and took on a few jobs using back and white film. After shooting a couple of weddings I was frustrated by limiting myself to black and white photography. That's when I should have used my G.I. Bill and enrolled in college. That was where my career in photography took a long hiatus.

Shortly after returning home I hooked up with another army photographer, Daniel Chaldekas and we traveled around the country for a couple of months. One one trip we drove to California to visit Howard. He was still at school and doing well. That was the last time I saw Howard or had any contact with him until I looked him up on the Internet a couple of years ago.

I am not going to go into all of the details of my life after my travels with my friend Dan. In 1972 I married a woman I met while traveling the local party circuit with old high school friends. Christine Moore was working at a department store and spending time with her friends doing the same, going to parties and spending free time in local pubs.

In 1974 I started an automotive accessory installation business with my brother Ralph. In 1979 our Daughter Katherine was born. Eighteen months later ours son Andrew was born. By the time our children were born we had purchased a house in the suburbs and I was mowing the lawn and raking leaves.

Over the years I made a few attempts to complete a college degree but could never stay focused on my studies. I sold my share of the business and moved on to other employment with mixed results. Because of my mixed results with employment and attempting to start other businesses we ended up having to sell the house and move first into a rental house then into an apartment.

Those were difficult and dark years. By the end of the 1980's I had started a management consulting business that was generating more income. Life was getting a little better. In 1998 Andrew and Katherine (Andy and Katie) were getting close to college age so I decided to get a job with steady paychecks. That was when I began to work for Radio Shack as a Store Manager.

Fast forward 10 years. It's 2008. My daughter has graduated from college with a Bachelor Degree in English and my Son has an Associates Degree and is attending Rochester Institute of Technology. Andy and I are having a conversation about finishing his Bachelor Degree at RIT with a concentration in photography. He was a little upset because his program started with studies in film photography but then changed in mid stream to digital photography. As we talked and he showed me his digital SLR camera, a Canon D20, It suddenly dawn on me that with digital I could shoot in color and print my own work.

Within days I had ordered a Canon Rebel XT digital SLR. I was more excited than I had been in years. I immediately knew that my passion for photography had laid dormant all these years but the passion was still there. As soon as my new camera arrived I took it out of the box and read the instructions as fast as I could. Well the instructions were not the greatest. I learned enough to take my first picture with my first digital SLR. When I heard the mirror and shutter release I knew how much I had missed photography. Seeing the world through the lens of the camera. My passion for photography was back!