My Photographic Journey:
I've been passionate about photography, graphic arts and writing for almost 50 years. Yes, sometimes I earn a living from my photography (every once in a while even enough to justify the equipment I use, almost). Over these past four decades I've been fortunate enough to have been hired to shoot product catalogs, weddings, professional sporting events, runway models, architecture, training programs, and corporate brochures. I've shot underwater. I've shot on location in a mine 1500 feet underground. I've shot through a microscope. Studio or field - you name it, I've probably shot it...
The ability to drill down, today, get creative and produce an image that is worthy of more than a brief glance is harder than it looks. The images that look effortless are often the ones that made me sweat (and swear) the most. Sometimes they are happenstance, or the result of a passing eureka moment. Mostly they are created while sitting in the cold waiting for the first shades of dawn that didn't quite materialize today, or the misty drizzle, or a cold winter's night, or in full scuba gear at 100 feet in the cold or near dark. But always, the adventure, and the hope of a truly great image drives that spirit forward. I love great light...
Sometimes it's just for play - and that is when I feel the most creative. A walk in the woods, or out in the open fields, a mountain stream, or underwater swimming through a wreck. Those dead flowers are interesting. Oh look, a shoe...!
For the most part, I now use photography and any skills I've acquired in graphic arts as a means of educating, teaching, or telling a compelling story to audiences keen to learn about forensic sciences. The medium becomes the message.
My father, Nik Semenoff M.S.M, D. Lit. (1927 - 2022) was a professional fine art and commercial artist, photographer, architectural modeller, goldsmith, and craftsman. He taught me a lot, but most of all, left me alone to explore my own path. His favorite question to me always was, "What interesting projects are you working on?"
It wasn't so much the tutelage in the arts as the atmosphere of imagination - I grew up in a home where creativity was sought after as a daily goal and cherished when achieved. A home where I could create images one day in a fully-professional darkroom, and experiment the next day with a 4x5 view camera, or the pro Nikon or Pentax systems, or shoot some 16mm film, maybe some medium format using a Rolleiflex, and the day after that paint, build a scale model or a piece of jewelry, create an animation, construct something in the woodworking area, or work on a short story.
Susan and I have tried to instill that sense of vision and creativity to our boys. Alex is an accomplished photographer in his own right, and also creates custom knives that are truly works of functional art. Ben is learning to be a goldsmith, like his grandfather before him. Zach (1996 - 2103) was an accomplished cellist and all-around gifted musician - he got that from his mother...
I've done many varied things in my careers. I was a Primary Care Paramedic for the local ambulance service for a few years, and then spent almost 20 years as a police officer. I've studied to become a Forensic Criminalist, and with that comes traveling for court, and presentations at many, many conferences. I've been fortunate to experience a lot of North America - all with a camera in hand (you'd be amazed at what you can create exploring a new locale when court only lasted one day and you've booked three days before the flight home).
I've owned a photography studio and gallery (that's another story altogether). Primarily, I'm a technical writer and forensic consultant who still dreams of getting the cover shot. You can see much of my work at my science journal for legal professionals - Counterpoint-Journal.com .
Now, as I'm getting older, photography has re-emerged as a means of tapping into that creative part of my soul that needs to be fed.
New tools, new beginnings, again and again. Search for the image. Feed your soul.
Look... Explore... Create... Repeat...
The ability to drill down, today, get creative and produce an image that is worthy of more than a brief glance is harder than it looks. The images that look effortless are often the ones that made me sweat (and swear) the most. Sometimes they are happenstance, or the result of a passing eureka moment. Mostly they are created while sitting in the cold waiting for the first shades of dawn that didn't quite materialize today, or the misty drizzle, or a cold winter's night, or in full scuba gear at 100 feet in the cold or near dark. But always, the adventure, and the hope of a truly great image drives that spirit forward. I love great light...
Sometimes it's just for play - and that is when I feel the most creative. A walk in the woods, or out in the open fields, a mountain stream, or underwater swimming through a wreck. Those dead flowers are interesting. Oh look, a shoe...!
For the most part, I now use photography and any skills I've acquired in graphic arts as a means of educating, teaching, or telling a compelling story to audiences keen to learn about forensic sciences. The medium becomes the message.
My father, Nik Semenoff M.S.M, D. Lit. (1927 - 2022) was a professional fine art and commercial artist, photographer, architectural modeller, goldsmith, and craftsman. He taught me a lot, but most of all, left me alone to explore my own path. His favorite question to me always was, "What interesting projects are you working on?"
It wasn't so much the tutelage in the arts as the atmosphere of imagination - I grew up in a home where creativity was sought after as a daily goal and cherished when achieved. A home where I could create images one day in a fully-professional darkroom, and experiment the next day with a 4x5 view camera, or the pro Nikon or Pentax systems, or shoot some 16mm film, maybe some medium format using a Rolleiflex, and the day after that paint, build a scale model or a piece of jewelry, create an animation, construct something in the woodworking area, or work on a short story.
Susan and I have tried to instill that sense of vision and creativity to our boys. Alex is an accomplished photographer in his own right, and also creates custom knives that are truly works of functional art. Ben is learning to be a goldsmith, like his grandfather before him. Zach (1996 - 2103) was an accomplished cellist and all-around gifted musician - he got that from his mother...
I've done many varied things in my careers. I was a Primary Care Paramedic for the local ambulance service for a few years, and then spent almost 20 years as a police officer. I've studied to become a Forensic Criminalist, and with that comes traveling for court, and presentations at many, many conferences. I've been fortunate to experience a lot of North America - all with a camera in hand (you'd be amazed at what you can create exploring a new locale when court only lasted one day and you've booked three days before the flight home).
I've owned a photography studio and gallery (that's another story altogether). Primarily, I'm a technical writer and forensic consultant who still dreams of getting the cover shot. You can see much of my work at my science journal for legal professionals - Counterpoint-Journal.com .
Now, as I'm getting older, photography has re-emerged as a means of tapping into that creative part of my soul that needs to be fed.
New tools, new beginnings, again and again. Search for the image. Feed your soul.
Look... Explore... Create... Repeat...