I'm not really sure if photography has always been a passion, or maybe more accurately, a lifelong "obsession". The earliest memory that I have is somewhere around 10 years old with a 3x9 darkroom in my closet...not forgetting that chemical smell always around me. I never did like spending hours and hours in the dark to end up with a couple of prints. I've always been more interested in the shooting of the images and the print results as I first imagined them. I'm sure all this had a strong influence on me when I looked at the possibilities of a darkroom in my computer.
I've always looked at the creative, "artistic" side of the image , as opposed to the realistic image (though I do admire that Ansel Adams quality). I remember at one time developing a way to shoot and process so that the contact sheet itself already had the look, of the shot, that I wanted. All that I then had to do is a straight blowup.