I became serious about being a full time artist late in life. My college education was in liberal arts, followed by a few more years of International Business. My corporate career spanned about 20 years, starting at a bank and followed by 18 years at an American high tech multinational in Switzerland.

My upbringing was international, enriched by varied cultures. Born in Washington, DC, I spent my formative years (18 of them) in Venezuela, Germany, Libya and Switzerland. And then there was the Austrian side of my family, which is most likely where my artistic inclination came from.

My Austrian grandfather worked with charcoal, watercolor and oils, and created his striking works from the architecture in the city of Vienna and from the Austrian/Italian countryside and Alps. He was also a late bloomer, having started out as a banker then retiring and turning to art at the age of 40, following the depression years in Vienna. My Austrian grandmother was a talented musician – she sang in the Vienna Statsoper Choir and also played beautiful guitar and zither.

While living and working in Switzerland, a photographer’s paradise, I spent many hours on the lakes and in the mountains lugging my sturdy Nikon camera equipment around and testing the patience of my hiking partners. Artistically, the stunning and perfect beauty of the Swiss Alps opened up my eyes to what was possible with a camera. Photography was one of my hobbies then, and my early focus was on landscapes and flowers.

In the late 1980’s, I purchased the Vivitar Series 11 105mm 1:2.5 /1:1 macro telephoto lens and quickly discovered the incredible and mysterious world of macro photography. The colors and patterns of nature became more intense and vivid for me. Several years later I was given a large, alluring glass paperweight by guests, and I was so struck by the colors and patterns I saw when I placed it in the sunlight that I spent the next hour ignoring my guests and capturing the magnified beauty of the glass with my soul, using the macro lens. This ignited my passion for glass photography.

After retiring from corporate life, I renewed my search for the perfect shot of glass art under the magnifying macro lens and continue to do so today. The creative possibilities are endless, and what I see through the lens is seldom visible to the naked eye. A new world of contrast, color, design and intrigue is framed from within my being and, with the help of the camera, I am able to bring it to life in living color.

I have been very fortunate to be able to spend time photographing at the studios of two very talented glass artists: Josh Simpson, in Massachusetts, and James Nowak, in Seattle, and much of the macro photography on my website brings out the intriguing microcosms that can be found deep within their beautiful pieces.