Growing up in Phoenix, my time outside of school was occupied by family and creative endeavors. I was always "inventing" or constructing, be it recreations of airplane cockpits in my bedroom or models of castles from television shows. There was no limit to what cardboard, construction paper, and tape could do. These pastimes eventually evolved into a hobby of model railroading.
I have had the good fortune of having outstanding instructors throughout my education. Thus, I always enjoyed attending school, fostering an appreciation for learning. In addition to my art training, I enjoyed studying the sciences in school, including oceanography, electromagnetic phenomena, chemistry, and physics. This led to amazing educational summer experiences at the Embry Riddle Aerospace Academy, in Prescott, and Space Academy, Level II, in Huntsville.
The technology laboratory at my middle school provided endless hours of experimentation with structural engineering, mechanical systems, electronics, and robotics using components such as Fischertechnik. That environment offered many opportunities for creative problem solving. During those same years, I began studying the intricacies of computing and cultivated my interest in video production. Years later, I found working at the Learning Technologies Center to be a similar creative environment employing my skills in computing and media.
I love the work that I do in visual effects because it draws from and unifies many of the fields that I have explored. I am fascinated by the commonalities that span my varied interests. Optics, music, nature, and computer science all expose base two arithmetic. I play with light; be it the exposure of a photograph, illuminating a scene on stage, or manipulating pixels. I attempt to understand the physical world in order to create illusions of reality in the form of an expressive painting, a town on a model railroad layout, or a CG model for an effects shot.