I was whisked away from my juvenile attempts at drawing by a journalist while working at a small town newspaper in high school. My interest in the pencil was supplanted by a new interest in the camera. I am 95% self taught.
Although I never pursued photography as a career, over the years it has been a friend, distraction, preoccupation, and therapy; not necessarily in that order. Above all photography has always been a source of artistic satisfaction.
The use of digital camera, the Gimp and later Photoshop has gradually opened my eyes to the possibilities of digital tools beyond photography. More recently I have begun to rekindle a long dormant interest in painting only now with graphics manipulation software. I am still a fledgling in this area with lot yet to learn.