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My story doesn’t start with a rich family history in aviation or growing up near an airbase with jets blasting overhead all day. Nope, mine starts a little differently and involves repeated blows to the back of the head as a child...I think?

Aviation has been an obsession for me for as long as I can remember. I grew up in a small dusty town in Northwest Kansas where the closest airport was a small paved strip 20 miles away. Clearly, my passion for aviation did not start here but it may have started on visits to my grandparents’ home in Lakewood, Colorado near the old Stapleton airport. My grandmother loves to recall stories of me as a young kid standing in her backyard watching planes fly overhead until I fell backwards (repeated blows to the head) and although I do not recall this, I do believe this is where it all began. From this early age, I have been involved with aviation every step of the way.

Dreaming of flying and building aircraft models helped pass the time until I took my first flight lesson at age 17 and shortly thereafter saw me taking my Private Pilot check ride at age 18. I now hold a Commercial Single Engine Land permit, Dispatcher Certificate and recently completed my tailwheel endorsement in a Super Cub.

My passion for photography began a few years later when I was working the line for a FBO at Centennial Airport in Denver, CO. This airport is one of the busiest G/A airports in North America, and the eye candy I had the privilege of seeing on a daily basis was truly amazing. I decided I needed to start capturing the things I got to see every day for future generations to enjoy, so I went out and bought my first DSLR camera. Now, I get to enjoy two of the most expensive hobbies known to man: aviation and photography.

I now reside back in the Midwest with my wife and two daughters. My office window, where I work as a flight dispatcher, overlooks a hangar full of beautiful jets (although most of the time it is empty because they are flying) and when I’m not spending time with my family you can find me out chasing planes.