My life in photography began at the Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign where I majored in Photography/Cinematography. I've been involved  in photography ever since. Even though exhibiting in fine-art galleries and winning awards was personally very satisfying, the more stable income of the commercial world led me onto my main career. (Anyone else do the same thing?) ;-)

My first commercial job was as a studio & location photographer and then as an account executive at a Chicago-based design and photo studio. That experience ultimately led me to found my own rep firm representing advertising photographers and illustrators for over 20 years. In 2003, I started my consulting business to teach creators how to manage their own sales and marketing.

Since I am also the owner of a small business, I face the same issues that many of my clients face. That is, I have to know how to wear the multiple business hats (sales, marketing, contact management, estimating, invoicing, employee management, insurance, taxes, technology, etc., etc.) necessary to sustain and grow a business. I know the challenges and opportunities. I can pass along the tricks and tips I've learned and thereby save my clients tons of time and money they would otherwise spend learning on their own.

For my clients who've been in business over 15 years, I've been most helpful in showing them how to deal with, and effectively implement, the new technology that has impacted businesses across all sectors of the economy. I discoverd those skills and insights when I opened an office in San Francisco in 1999 and discovered my "inner geek." It was there that I learned so much about the changes that are driving the Internet Economy.

During my three years in the high-tech entrepreneurial environment of Silicon Valley, I gained a broad overview of the trends and tools that are now hitting the main stream of the photography business.

Most of my clients built successful all film-based businesses but are now facing the challenges of shifting to an all-digital work-flow. While they have at least some working familiarity of digital imaging, many don't know how to effectively manage the changes that technology has brought to the sales, marketing and client management aspects of their business. That's where I come in. I show photographers the essentials tools and skills they need to support the business side of this new era of successful image making.

This is basically how I work to this day-- I take my innate love and appreciation of the photography business and combine it with natural and intuitive marketing instincts and 'inner techno-geek' to help fellow image makers leverage their skills and abilities to get the projects they really want.

The following represents a partial list of the ad agencies who have hired my clients:
Arnold; Bates USA; BBDO; Bozell; Campbell-Ewald; Campbell Mithun; Cramer-Krasselt; DDB; Euro RSCG; Fallon; FAME; Foote, Cone & Belding; Frankel; Goodby Silverstein & Partners; Hill/ Holliday; J. Walter Thompson; Leo  Burnett; Messner Vetere Berger McNammee Schmetterer/Euro RSCG; Lowe; McCann-Erickson NY; McCann SF; Mullen; Ogilvy & Mather; Y&R; RPA Santa Monica (Rubin Postaer); Saatchi & Saatchi; The Richards Group,  TLP/Tracy Locke Partnership, and Wieden & Kennedy.

These agencies have used my clients to create ad imagery for these national consumer marketers: Nike, Reebok, Pepsi, Coke, Apple, Microsoft, IBM, Compaq, Dell, Oracle, Sun, Motorola , eBay, Honda, Saturn, GMC, Subaru, Ryder Trucks, Starbucks, Anheuser-Busch, Miller,  FedEx, USPS, Disney, Nintendo, Sony, Kelloggs', McDonalds, Taco Bell, Frito-Lay, Kraft, Sara Lee, Tropicana, GlaxoSmithKline,  Procter & Gamble, Estee Lauder, Avon, Sears, TARGET, Lands' End, Wal-Mart, Ralston Purina, Gerber, Kimberly-Clark, United  Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Philip Morris, Allstate, State Farm, Blue Cross Blue Shield, TIAA-Cref, Sprint, AT&T, Visa, Kodak, Polaroid, FujiFilm, Wrigley's and many more..

Additionally some of our editorial clients have included these PUBLICATIONS:
Adweek, Time, Newsweek, Fast Company, Wired, American Way Magazine, Delta Sky, Lufthansa, INC. Magazine, People, New York Times Book Review, Scientific American, Forbes, Outside, RayGun, The Washington Post, Harcourt, Scott  Foresman, Bantam Books, McGraw Hill, Penguin Putnam, Simon & Shuster, Workman Publishing, Cahner's, IDG, Kiplinger's, Family PC, Bloomberg Financial, and Süddeutsche Zeitung, Ziff Davis.

Recent speaking and review sessions: Since Sept. 2003 I've been a featured presenter and provided portfolio review sessions for local chapters of the ASMP and APA in Chicago; Milwaukee; Miami; Ft. Lauderdale; Washington, D.C.; St. Louis; Charlotte, NC; Savannah, and Atlanta, GA.

Other: I've also been chair of the Portfolio Review Committee of the Chicago chapter of Society of Photographers and Artists Reps; I've done portfolio reviews at the Maine Photographic Workshop in Camden, ME.; I'm a regular guest portfolio reviewer Columbia College,Chicago, IL and I have done hundreds of individual review sessions for photographers across the US, Canada, England, and France that has allowed them to see their work with a more coherent, confident vision.