Music, moving images, the night sky, and the physical world. Different subjects, connected by a desire to understand what I’m seeing—and find a way to share it.
It started with the sky. And music.
In 1973, on my family’s farm in High Springs, Florida, I saw the Milky Way for the first time. I was nine. That night began a lifelong fascination with astronomy.
Music was taking hold, too. A decade of classical violin training taught me to listen for structure and space. Piano and guitar followed, and from 1984 to 1990 I worked as a touring musician. In 1985, while living with bandmates in the California desert, I looked through a telescope for the first time. Between sets and sessions, I found myself as captivated by the planets and stars as I was by the music.
From sound to moving images
I moved from performing into live audio and recording engineering, building three studios for Sonny Bono and working at Full Circle Music, the independent label founded by Paul Gilman.
In 1990, I moved into video engineering and editing. I spent six years working with analog NTSC and cutting tape at Sun Studios in Palm Springs for Gregg McDonald, Ricky Nelson’s former manager.
Thane International hired me in 1996 to build a video editing facility in La Quinta, California. The work grew into a decade of production and technology: building a team, developing an early internal video distribution platform in 1998, and eventually serving as VP of Technology. I led the implementation of an ERP system across 20 divisions and 17 offices worldwide, which went live in 2003. My time at Thane ended in 2004.
The Neon Sky
Around 2000, my work with cameras and computers met my fascination with astronomy. I bought a telescope, modified a webcam for long exposures, and began building equipment for astrophotography.
A single image can take 20–40 hours to photograph. That patience reveals color and structure in nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies that are difficult to see with our eyes alone. I call this body of work The Neon Sky. Looking up still gives me the sense of calm and wonder I first felt on the farm.
Making the universe a shared experience
After Thane, I returned to freelance editing, working on two feature films before developing my work as a director of photography. In 2011, I founded Creative Monster, bringing together my experience in music, video, and technology.
My volunteer work with the Rancho Mirage Library and Observatory sparked another idea: use projection mapping to turn the observatory dome into an immersive experience for daytime visits and cloudy nights. I produced a journey that launches visitors from the observatory floor into the universe, combining imagery with surround sound and a dedicated subwoofer.
After eighteen months of pursuing funding, the experience became a reality. That work led to the design of a second dome experience at Bruneau Dunes State Park in Idaho. Through Observatory Projection Systems, astronomy and storytelling have become part of the same work.
Still looking closely
Today, as co-founder of Drone Scope Mapping, I work with drone LiDAR, terrestrial scanning, and photogrammetry to create precise digital representations of physical spaces.
The subject keeps changing. The instinct stays the same: look closely, understand what is there, and figure out how to capture and share it.