I met David about 3 years ago at Texas School of Photography. I sat in on one his special 30 minute classes. His zest for life and love of people really inspired me, so much so I took a two day class he offered that Summer at the Little Red School House. Again I was inspired. A few months ago, I stumbled across an online course taught by David and his son Luke. I signed up, and was working through the course when I learned of a 3 day workshop they were thinking about doing. The next thing you know, I'm signed up and headed to Dallas for it. The workshop was a lot of information, shooting, talking, sharing, and inspiring. I left extremely exhausted, but ever-so-grateful for the opportunity. We were told that this amount of information and learning would only be deepened (better understood) in the future, so don't worry if you felt overwhelmed. Overwhelmed is an understatement. Getting back to David, he was a commercial photographer for many years and just in the past 10 years of so, he has focused his photography on the classical painters and artists. He recreates his versions of the classic artists, but he uses family and friends to do it. His purpose is to help mentor photographers to create a legacy, images that will carry on throughout the passage of time. His goal is to build relationships with people and help educate and motivate them to learn the craft and create portraits that mean something to them. Just spending time with him I learned a lot about who he is as a person. He is always saying, "Thank you", when you do anything to help. His encouraging demeanor is easily recognized in the way he approaches you. And last but not least, he cares more about you, than he does if you mess up or succeed. He shows you with his words and hugs that "you matter", which the world needs a lot more of these days. He and Luke create masterpiece images that not only win awards, but leave more of an impact of those in the photographs because it's about them. I've seen him create portraits of his own family, his friends, and even acquaintances that will continue to give back in future generations. David is the real renaissance man, or better yet, the most interesting man in the world. He doesn't take many images on the set, but when he does....... they are incredible.
