- Has over 30 years experience working as a photographer and journalist.
- Has won so many Virginia Press Association awards that he has lost count along the way.
- Has NOT won a Pulitzer Prize … yet.
- Spent over a year following the old-school crafting of a masterpiece of a pipe organ by Taylor and Booty Organs. Checkout the story here.
- Has photographed three United States presidents.
- Identify as a Klingon named “Mayq.”
- Built his own lightsaber in a workshop on the planet Batuu.
- Was in Charlottesville, Va., on news assignment on the day of the riot in 2017.
- Been pepper sprayed and splashed with acid while covering an assignment.
- Photographed warriors from China’s Terracotta Army.
- Served as rear sweep (steering oar) of the 50-foot long 18th century-style wooden batteaux, named “Pride of Rockbridge” and later “Virginia Creeper,” during past James River Batteau Festivals.
- Served as Army provost under General Maupin on the General’s staff over the reenacting group, Longstreet’s Corps.
- Had the chance to hold a bear cub. (You should see the claws they have!)
- Served as pilot, gunner and engineer aboard the Millennium Falcon.
- Have flown aboard World War II bombers more than three times.
- Almost fell over laughing when I photographed a governor kissing a baby in a parade while he was campaigning. “Look! … A baby! … I’m gonna kiss the baby as it’s what we do!” he joked.
The Facts From Fiction
- Used a drone to photograph a sea monster in Lake Robertson in Rockbridge County, Virginia, on a past April Fool’s Day.
- Hiked through the dark way back in the woods as those I was with searched for Bigfoot.
- Have yet to photograph an actual Sasquatch, although … I did see footprints.
- May have had a rock (with video of said rock) thrown at him by a Bigfoot.
- Listened as Coach Hamilton of the Booker T. Washington High School talked about how his basketball players could fly … and know the secret of how the did it.
- Has NOT run a marathon. Does hold a red belt in American Freestyle Karate, however.
- Stared down an officer of the First Order.
- Privileged to listen (and photograph) as a World War II veteran shared his vivid memories of being in the middle of Pearl Harbor as the Japanese bombs fell.
- Has been sprayed by a skunk … twice.
- Sat in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”
- Learned to respect the natural world from a Cherokee elder.
- Captured what looked like a ghostly orb on video while doing a story on local ghost hunters.
- Photographed sunflowers in the snow.
- Hold the rank of Vice Admiral and serve as Fleet Commander of an international Star Trek fan organization called Fleet 31.
- Watched a lady (and others) box back against Parkinson’s disease.
- Fell in love with Staunton, Virginia, while photographing the “Big Dig” when utility lines went underground and sidewalks were bricked. Watching the city change and evolve as a result after cemented that love.
- Looked a black bear square in the eye from a couple of feet away and lived to tell the tale.
