About Jonathan

Biographical

I was born in Columbia, SC in 1980. My father's job took our family to Singapore and London while I was growing up yet we finally settled back in Columbia in the early '90s. I have a BA in Administrative Information Management from the University of South Carolina which is a field chiefly involved in computer network engineering and keeping Microsoft products operational.

I am employed full-time as an audio/video engineer at KONTEK Systems in Durham, NC where I design classroom presentation systems, video conferencing suites, etc. I rather enjoy it.

I am fortunate enough to be married to the world's most supportive wife, Jill. Together we have a wonderful son named Edward.

All Things Photographic

In 1997, I was awarded the Shafto Grant at my high school to aid in the completion of my senior research project. With part of the grant, I purchased a Nikon N70 camera and accessories. Knowing absolutely nothing about photography, I banged away with the N70 for years before I developed the need to create certain looks and effects. In order to acheive the desired results, I started to absorb books on photography and study photographs that I admired.

Once I had a taste for the steps necessary to get the results I craved, I became afflicted with the very dangerous Equipmentitus disease. Equipmentitus is the notion that you can become a better photographer/artist by purchasing and using the latest and greatest photographic equipment. After four years of the hot pursuit of the latest in photographica, I arrived at the realization one day that I just had to stop and innovate with what I had available to me.

A lot of people ask me if I am anti-digital and the answer is quite to the contrary. I own a digital point n' shoot camera because digital is convenient and the technology has its uses. When I was photographed for a recent newspaper article, the photographer wasn't clamboring around me with vials of liquid collodion on 8x10 plates, he had some fancy Nikon digital SLR because it is the best tool for his job. There is a place for digital in this world and you certainly can still be a tremendous artists if you use the array of tools available to you in the digital domain. I choose to work in the Daguerreotype medium because the process is high-touch instead of high-tech and the objects produced are one-of-a-kind.

Other Stuff to Know

I'm a geek, make no mistake on the matter. For years, I programmed touchscreen remote controls for the obscenely rich. I used to obsess over and keep tropical fish. The raising of Bonsai trees is something that I used to take great pleasure in but have let lapse. I used to own a disgustingly expensive stereo system that I have since paired down to ludicrously expensive. You know how people say that they can't tell a difference between MP3 and CD? I can... so there.

Throughout all the hobbies and passions, photography has always been around.

I can be rather silly and obsessive over small things. Many will see this as a detriment but I see it as a double-edged sword. When I am working on a Daguerreotype, it is very easy for me to say "Wow, it worked!" and leave it at that. On the other hand, it takes a great deal of willpower to wipe away the previous four hours worth of work and say "I can do better." I'm always trying to make myself better by reading, learning, and understanding the world around me.