I began my journey in photography while in high school where I learned the basics of black and white films and making prints from negatives. During my first years in college, I was able to set up a darkroom and contribute to a social science class where we produced a local publication. I was also fortunate to take an art class with local artist Barclay Sheaks.
My actual career in photography began in 2002 when I was hired and trained at Canon as a Technical Support Representative. For the next sixteen years I gained firsthand knowledge of the transformation from film to digital photography.
As my photographic skills increased, I became interested in many issues of local environmental concerns: wildlife habitat loss, pollution of waterways, and bringing focus on organizations involved in improving these and other issues. My photos have been regularly published in Vickie Shufer’s column in The Virginian-Pilot and in other publications such as the Virginia Consortium Network’s Our Common Agenda.
Recently, I began traveling to other countries to photograph spectacular scenery and learn how climate change is affecting those areas as well.
Michael Schimmel’s collection is on display at the Stravitz Gallery.