From Chemicals to Composition

If you’d told me a few years ago I’d be making emotional, surreal art with AI, I probably would’ve laughed. For 36 years, I worked for a big chemical company. That was my job. My paycheck. My structure. Art wasn’t part of the picture—at least not in any serious way.

I’d played around with photography in my late teens and twenties, but like a lot of people, I drifted away from it. Life got in the way. Work took over. And the camera ended up in a drawer somewhere.

In 2007, I picked it back up. This time, I stuck with it.

I took classes, learned how to use Lightroom and Photoshop, earned four photography certificates. I started shooting everything—landscapes, wildlife, weddings, events. Whatever caught my eye, I chased it with a lens. And over time, it became more than just a hobby. It was how I reconnected with the world.

When I retired in 2019, I turned photography into my full-time work. I focused on nature and landscapes. I had a rhythm. I was doing what I loved.

And then AI showed up.

I started playing with Midjourney, and suddenly, all these images I’d carried in my head—images I had no way of capturing with a camera—started coming to life on my screen.

It was weird. And kind of amazing.

These weren’t just cool visuals—they were emotional. They felt like memory and metaphor and dream all mixed together. It was like my brain had finally found the right tools to speak its own language.

Photography taught me how to look.

AI gave me a way to say something.

I didn’t stop being a photographer—I just realized the camera wasn’t enough anymore. Not for what I wanted to express.

That’s when everything started to shift.

"This was one of the first shots I took after picking up the camera again un 2007. I had no idea where it would lead."

"One of the first AI Images I made that felt like it came from a dream, not a reference photo."