Growing up in Los Angeles in the 50’s and 60’s was more like growing up in a small town than a big city. There were a lot of small communities that were stuck together to make a city. Particularly communities, as in my case, like first, Boyle Heights and than later, Silverlake.  

My father was born at the giant County Hospital on Soto Street in East L.A., went to school there as a medical student, intern and resident and eventually became the Chief of Radiology for the County of Los Angeles and Head Professor of Radiology for U.S.C. at the same County Hospital.  We moved to the west side of Silverlake in the early 1950’s. Our home was  very contemporary, designed by Edward Fickett. It was post Frank Lloyd Wright, similar to the better known architects Neutra and Shindler and very 1950’s.  This was my first exposure to art.  It was all around me, the home, the furniture, books and the art on the walls.  
My interest in art was a distant second to music.  I studied clarinet in junior high school and saxophone in high school.  My high schools included an English boarding school in Surrey England- Cranleigh School.  England was a difficult but also enlightening experience.  I was exposed to art and music in a way that was unavailable for me in Southern California that included the Tate Gallery, (The great Turner collection and the impressionists) , the symphony and opera of Vienna, where I was fortunate enough to spend some time, and Cranleigh School, where music and art were viewed as important aspects of the education of a young man/boy.

I graduated high school in California with the intent of going on to college to study clarinet and music, however I got waylaid by the 60’s.  I hitchhiked around the country with a lengthy stopover in New York, meeting some of the most significant musicians and artists of the time.  My interest in music turned to Jazz and I began a serious interest in photography.  

My brother Paul and I returned to Los Angeles after many adventures on the road, throughout the country.  Ultra hip friends from New York came west to start a market research company and in our lives the computer age had begun.  They hired many of our offbeat friends to program computers that were a fraction of the capacity of today's laptops yet took up whole rooms with their bulk. I opted to run their printing press- get my hands in the ink instead of sitting behind a desk and learning programming, as so many of my mates did.  

Hancock Park is a very old residential section of Los Angeles.  The streets are wide and the homes are big with large lawns and garages and brick and mahogany staircases.  Homes and neighborhoods you would see on the east coast.  My brother and I rented a large home there and moved in with are respective girlfriends and another young couple. 

We started a printing shop, converting two old wooden garages on the back of the property.  We were off and running.  We printed anything and everything from advertising material, education books and Rock and Roll posters and flyers. Art galleries and Wilshire businesses were just around the corner.

After a short period of time we got a big job from the Beach Boys- their program books- and moved out of the backyard and into a 5,000 sq. ft warehouse on Hoover Ave.  Quantum Press was born.  For the next few years we produced some outstanding graphics for a variety of types of business.  We were some of the first to use computerized type for educational book production.  Many of the posters and graphics were one of a kind and remain excellent examples of the graphic arts of the time.

My interest in the process camera and the photographic aspect of printing grew.  The business aspect was overwhelming.  It was hard, hard work and it wore us down, with many of the people in the entertainment industry dishonest.  We decided to move on in our lives.  We got out of the printing business.  

In 1969 I enrolled at Brooks Institute of Photography, in Santa Barbara.  At that time it was considered one of the finest Photographic Schools in the world.  It certainly was one of the most beautiful.  It was situated in a magnificent stone villa in the hills of Montecito.  I spent three years there and studied with some of the top photographic educators anywhere.  I excelled at my studies and graduated having done some very interesting projects and developed many wonderful relationships with my fellow instructors and students.
My career as a photographer has been one of the most rewarding endeavors a person could have.  The rewards don’t necessarily come financially, as it is very hard to make a decent living consistently over decades.  The experience is what is so amazing and empowering.  The things I have seen, the people I have met and the places I have been are the rewards. More than just looking,  it has been about seeing and feeling through the eyes of a photographer. 

Photography has manifested in various ways in my life. I have been Creative Director at two small Advertising Agencies and I have had a small advertising agency of my own. It was both difficult and stimulating. For quite a few years I taught Photography and The Printing Process at UCLA and Cypress College in Orange County California.  I love teaching.  I built a studio in the beautiful mountains near Telluride Colorado and pursued my dream.

I have maintained a serious interest in music, particularly jazz throughout my life.  I study and play and enjoy the clarinet, saxophone and piano every day.  Much of my photography has an association with music.  

I also have been very active in the studying and teaching of Yoga and Kung Fu, San Soo.  The Center for Yoga, on Larchmont Blvd in Los Angeles began in 1967 by Ganga White.  I became a certified Yoga instructor there in the early 1980’s and purchased the Center from Ganga in the mid 80’s.  The Center for Yoga is one of the first, largest and best Yoga schools in the nation.  It, along with its’ parent company, The White Lotus Foundation, in Santa Barbara, have set the standard for teaching Yoga.  The fulfillment and enjoyment I have been so fortunate to receive from Yoga and The Center has been one of the greatest benefits in my life.  When I sold the Center in 2002 we had 35 teachers on staff and had hundreds of students taking classes every day.  

I have studied an ancient form of Kung Fu- Called San Soo since moving back to the Santa Barbara area in 2000.  My friend and teacher-Master Willie Poindexter has shared with me a great deal-  I have reached the level of six degree Black Belt through his wonderful and excellent teaching.  

I feel that Yoga and Kung Fu have contributed in profound ways to having  a healthy mental, physical, emotional and spiritual quality of life. 

In 1995 I was on a trip in France.  I wanted to visit the Buffet Clarinet factory.  The Buffet clarinet is considered by most to be the finest clarinet made-at least in a factory. It was interesting but far from spectacular.   Sometimes Europeans look down on how Americans do things.  The French are often very expressive about this. Our manufacturing at one time was considered the best in the world.  The automobile industry from the 1950 through the 80”s changed that.  We became known for building poor quality cars and many industries were painted with that same broad brush. I am not particularly vocal about my patriotism, but when you are traveling, vociferous criticism  can get to you. I knew that we here in America did just as fine a job making instruments as anybody, anywhere.  There are excellent fine crafts people making musical instruments and a variety other things in the factories, small businesses and especially in the homes throughout  America.

I came back to the States with the idea that I was going to photograph some of these instrument makers.  Not just them making instruments, but who they were, where they lived and what were they like as people. 

The project was titled,  Heart & Hands, Musical Instrument Makers of America.  I took over 20,000 images on Kodachrome 200.   I spent over two years traveling 10’s of thousands of miles by car, in six different expeditions.  I had help and guidance from National Geographic photographer Sam Abel, the wonderful people at The Smithsonian Institution, and my hard working assistants in Colorado.  I had a tireless and very competent collaborator, Tricia Malisoff who arranged over 400 photo sessions in over 40 states.  

The Smithsonian Institution has a division with the acronym S.I.T.E.S., meaning The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibitions Services.  I made a presentation to them in Washington of my project.  There were many other possible candidates for their exhibits.  Hundreds applied every year.  They chose Heart & Hands with great enthusiasm.  They put in charge a young man who was the Project Director, named Larry Hyman.  He conferred with me throughout the project, for years..  His knowledge of art, and exhibiting art was enormous.  The job he did with this project was beyond outstanding.  

The exhibit lasted for 5 years and traveled throughout the United States.  At one venue in Washington D.C. at the Arts and Industries Museum on the National Mall, over 400,000 people saw the work.  Of course it was next to the Mohammad Ali exhibit- which didn’t hurt. This is the first time the Smithsonian had exhibited digitally produced photographic prints.

In addition to the numerous exhibits around the United States for 5 years including the Arts and Industries Museum in Washington D.C the project was honored with. a special exhibit taking place in the Russell Office Building of the United States Senate, sponsored by New Mexico Senator Deminichi.  

A  color 140 page, hardbound coffee table book was published by German publisher Konemann.  This book has sold over 20,000 copies and has been distributed throughout the world.  

A number of images were selected and now preside in the achieves of the National Museum of American History.

Other projects include:

• China and the Tibetan plateau photographing musical instrument makers
• Africa on a project titled “Oh Baby” The Rituals of Childbirth Around The World
• Mexico Dreams-The Art And Culture Of Mexico- The still photographer for a P.B.S, Film Produced and Directed by Charles Pavlich

For the last 20 years I have resided in the Santa Barbara/Ojai area of Southern California. My current interests include oil painting.  My subjects are often from the many images of the wonderful people I have been so privileged to photograph for the last 50 years.  

My wife, Alix Loveland, has been incredibly supportive of my artistic endeavors.  She is herself is an enthusiastic and very accomplished ceramicist.  Her son, my stepson, Talon Gonzales is a very talented and up and coming film director, now working in the Los Angeles area.