Rick has alway been interested in cameras since he was young. His parents would only buy him Kodak pocket cameras for his sisters. He attempted several times to look at this dad’s camera which his dad told him to leave it alone so he would not break it. When living in Spain, Rick went to Boy Scout summer camp, his mother let him use her Kodak pocket camera at summer camp. Rick has a great time tak
ing photos at this camp and still has these photos today. When Rick and his family moved to Austin he started to read his dad’s camera manual on the Pentax Spotmatic to see how it worked. His dad finally allowed Rick to look at his camera in the house only. Rick was fascinated by the dials on the camera and numbers on the lens. Rick then started to watch a TV show called James at 15 which was a boy Rick’s age with a camera just like Rick’s father. James was a high school boy who took pictures all the time at school and home, then developed and printed his black and white photos in his darkroom. Rick was fascinated by this and couldn’t wait to start taking pictures and get into a darkroom. While Rick was attending Crockett High School in south Austin, Rick had a schedule conflict which caused him to make another choice of an elective class in school. Rick decided to take photography class in school even though there was a fee involved. When Rick started photography class in school he was very excited to finally get to start
taking pictures and learn how to develop and print black and white photos along with color photos in the darkroom at the school. One day in class Rick decided that he was having so much fun he decided that he wanted to open a portrait studio and be a photographer for his career. Rick’s parents were finally happy that Rick finally decided on a career path. Rick started out at Austin Community College and earned his associates degree in Photography. During this time at ACC, Rick also worked for Walter Barnes Studio as a black and white darkroom technician. Under Mr. Barnes direction, he taught Rick how to print black and white pictures in the the studio darkroom. Rick also joined Professional Photographers of America and Professional Photographers Guild of Austin, now known as Austin Professional Photographers Association. Once Rick graduated from ACC he transferred to Sam Houston State University where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Photography, He also attend the Texas School of Professional Photography for two years once as a paid member the other as a student maverick helping the wranglers and instructors, The first year Rick was in Charles Lewis class. Second year, Rick was with David Zisers class. At Sam Houston, Rick worked for a portrait studio in College Station. Once Rick graduated, he returned to Austin to live with his parents. Rick used his parents garage and started taking senior portraits. Rick then worked at various times for different local studio owners in Austin, Jack Puryear Photography, Wayne Long Photographer and a few others. Rick learned a lot about running a business from these photographers. Rick also found an additional interest in the fire and ems service. Rick went to the fire academy then started working for Lufkin Fire Department as a career. He found that firemen usually had a side job on their day off, so Rick opened a portrait studio next to his house in Huntington. Once Rick retired, he and his family found a portrait studio in Ennis Montana for sale. Just before going to Montana, Rick attended the Texas School again and took John Wilson’s class on Photoshop. They moved to Montana and attempted to purchase the studio. This business deal went bad, so Rick and his family moved back to the Austin area to start over. Rick now operates a home based studio in Rockdale. He has set up a black and white darkroom in the garage and takes photos in the other half. Rick rejoined the Austin Professional photographers Association.
