I am essentially self-taught. Unfortunately the university I attended didn't offer photography classes, but even if classes were available, at the time I wasn't interested in photography.

Then one weekend late in my freshman year a friend convinced me to go to a photography exhibit in New York by Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. I was blown away and instantly hooked. It took about a year, but eventually I saved enough money and bought the only SLR I could afford -- an Asahi Pentax S with a 50mm lens.

To save money, I bought ten reloadable cassettes, a 100 foot roll of Tri-X, a black plastic reloading gizmo and a lightproof bag.

At a darkroom photo club I learned to develop and print my feeble attempts to become the next Ansel Adams. Over time my equipment improved and years later I built my own state-of-the-art color darkroom --- which is now collecting dust in a storage locker!

During this lifelong journey - like any photographer - I read a number of how-to-books and subscribed to most of the photography magazines. For a short while I attended some classes at Art Center in Pasadena and even shot some commercial jobs. But I soon realized that I was never going to be another Ansel, and that a career in commercial photography was far from the glamorous "BLOW UP" lifestyle I thought it might be. Eventually I put away my cameras and stopped shooting.

Enter the age of digital.

It didn't take long for digital quality to equal film quality, and best of all, it cost almost nothing to shoot. I already owned really good computers, so what I needed was some editing software and new cameras. I decided to jump back in the pool.

Within a month I sold three Hasselblads, a 4X5, four Nikon bodies and a slew of lenses, all of which funded my entry into the digital world. I hated to see those cameras go, but I knew I would never use them again. Thank you, eBay!

Today I have two Nikon digital bodies and two zoom lenses: an 18 - 200mm telephoto, a 10 - 24mm wide angle, and an Epson 3800 printer. And now that I am retired, I am shooting again as much as I can.

I'm lucky because I have an old friend who is a sensational architectural photographer and a part-time college professor who is steeped in the history of the craft. He's taught me more than I can remember. It's through his encouragement that I designed this website to share my pictures. Thank you, John Durant, for being a great friend.

I hope you enjoy my efforts. Thank you so much for visiting my work.

Bill Jones