Hi, my name is Charles. I live in Tennessee, but I grew up all over the US. Photography has been a strong obsession for a long time, an obsession I'm happy to have. It is one of the best ways I have to communicate.  
 I consider myself to be a Tennessee native who had the misfortune to be born in Detroit. My family, going back for generations, are from Tennessee. Dad was in the Navy, so I grew up all over the country. He used to save his vacation time and take 60 days off every two years. We would take long, sweeping trips across the country, spend a couple of weeks with family in Tennessee, and return by a different route to see more sights. He left the Navy and we returned to Tennessee when I was 14, and I spent my High School years at Midway High School, just south of Kingston. Most of my family are centered in Chattanooga but I spent a lot of time all over East Tennessee. After a stint in the Air Force in Denver, I wandered the West for awhile, then came back, married and spent nearly 20 years in Polk County. I put down roots there, something I had never done before. After my divorce, I moved to Kentucky ten years ago. And I still miss my home in Polk County.
 Kentucky is a beautiful state, and I got serious about photography after moving here. After looking so closely at this part of the state, I think of it this way; if you removed the vegetation it would look like southern Utah, with it's great sandstone mesas, cliffs, arches and canyons. I love the wonderful old forests here, but if you want to reveal it's rocky heart you have to work at it.  Oh, and I like dogs.

Update: As of August 2011, I have moved back to Tennessee. It's great to be back!