Photography has twice evolved from a passion to a profession. That passion is capturing the essence of real people either in a studio or in the world around us.

While in college at the University of Tennessee, I majored in Communications and shot stills occasionally for The Daily Beacon and The Christian Newspaper. I gained enough experience shooting and editing video to land a job as a photojournalist at WATE-TV in 1988. I did a stint at the National Guard Bureau's video production facility in Nashville. During this time, I attended the Defense Information School and gained experience in both commercial production and combat photography. I returned to the news business in 1990 for KTBS-TV in Shreveport, LA. Unfortunately a helicopter crash put me behind a desk where I learned to produce newscasts and later became the News Operations Manager. During the TV news years, I had credits on ABC World News Tonight, CNN, BET and ESPN as well as many local stations throughout the South.

So after eight years in the world of information technology, I started shooting again in 2002, this time with still cameras and a home-based studio.

My photojournalism experience translates well to wedding and event photography. However, fine portraiture, by comparison, is a new experience that I truely enjoy. So I found excellent mentors such as Ron Kramer, Jim Karr, Kevin Jairaj, Rick DeLorme and Tim Schooler.

I still do some information security consulting as a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and Certified Inforation Systems Auditor (CISA). You can find out more about this work at Rasquel.com. You can also meet our little girl at MackenzieCarden.com.