John’s Story…

I have one tattoo, on my left forearm, it reads, je crois en toi, translation, I believe in you. I have had two dogs, both blind and one cat who’s vision was fine. I attended the Center for Creative Studies until funds became an issue, but returned in 2009 to teach. The first celebrity I photographed was Mark “The Bird” Fidrych while still in high school, the second was Bob Hope. I have run a marathon, biked a century and completed two triathlons where I finished dead last in the swim. My travels have taken me to the top of the Mackinac Bridge as well as a mile under Cleveland in a salt mine. As a teenager I once set my house on fire while taking a photograph. My father was a self employed mason who passed away while working, I was 8. My mother was a nurse at the VA hospital first in Detroit and then Ann Arbor. I speak two sentences of Polish. My first car, a Mustang convertible was painted with a roller to hide the rust. I have pumped gas, baked donuts, laid sod, spent time as a lifeguard and worked the midnight shift at a 7/11. I don’t play any musical instruments unless you include the dashboard. As a student, I once talked actor Jeff Daniels into sitting for a portrait. Jeff has since sat for the cover of one of my books and wrote the forward for another. I am left handed. There are few images of me in front of the camera. I love to teach.