bio | 35slide

Photography was never a lifelong dream of mine or anything like that. When I was little I wanted to be a rock-n-roll astronaut stuntman who wrote spy novels and amazing cookbooks, and who of course dabbled in archaeology and the paranormal. I still want to be that, actually.

I also knew early that I wanted to go places. Maybe it was National Geographic or James Bond or 1001 Nights. I don’t know, but exploring the world had to happen. As far as the photography goes, I didn’t get into it until I was 16 and started messing around with an Olympus OM-1.

This was my first proper camera.

I moved to California at this same age and started attending college at night while still in high school during the day. I took some photo courses, mainly just to have access to the darkroom. For a while I spent whole days in there making magic and missing out on all that famous California sunshine. I volunteered weekly at the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego and took shots for the school newspaper, The Telescope.

I headed back to Philly around five years later and found a job as the photographer for a dinner cruise ship on the Delaware River, with duties somewhat similar to those of Ted McGinley’s character “Ace” Covington from The Love Boat, although I swear I wasn’t that lame. My official title was “Funtographer” if you can believe that. I have trouble believing it myself. Anyway I saved up for a trip to Thailand, and this trip changed everything.

Since then, if one adds it all up, I have spent about eleven full years out and about exploring and photographing Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Antarctica. Over this time I have had an assortment of odd jobs: apple-picker, janitor, welder, cook, courier,

hotel review writer, mover, stagehand, meatpacker, desk clerk, movie extra, picture framer, guinea pig, blogger, and performer in a few bands and music projects. Currently I earn my dough with my photography, regularly exhibiting at art fairs around the US.

I continue to travel and recent adventures include walking thousands of miles through Europe and odd last-minute trips involving Greece and Ireland and almost every place in between. The treks will be the subjects of my first photography books, which are ongoing projects.

Oh, and photography is not the reason I hit the road. I go out of curiosity, because I have itched to do it since I was little, and because I love the newness of every day away. The photos are like a side effect of the drug that travel can be, and I'd say the basic recurring theme of my photography is a simple one: the extraordinary nature of ordinary life.

Initially all of my images were taken with Kodak or Fuji slide films, but in 2013 I gave digital a whirl, so now both film and digital are used. I also mount, mat, and frame everything myself.

At the very least I hope my pictures show how interesting life is, and if this keeps working out, maybe I can give that whole rock-n-roll spy astronaut stuntman chef deal a go. Maybe.

-gene 2025

Syria, 1999