I've been a portrait and wedding photographer since 1977. I accidentally fell into digital and landscape photography by chance.

My friend and our family began a charity helping orphans and people in need with friends in 1999. Over the last 13 years, we have been blessed to travel through a large part of Europe. Our mission trip to Russia, over the Christmas 2004 holiday, began in Germany, Austria, and Prague.

The day before we left, my wife purchased a digital camera for her to take snap shots. Like the bus man's holiday, I have never been diligent about taking family snap shots. Sidebar: I always said when photography went digital I would retire.

The day we traveled from Prague to Frankfurt to catch the plane to Moscow, the tsunami hit Sri Lanka. By the time we arrived in Moscow, the news was filled with heart breaking stories. After we completed your mission in Russia, we returned to USA.

Our non-profit status helped us make the connections in Sri Lanka which allowed me to immediately fly to Sri Lanka to help. Less than one month since the tsunami, the conditions were very basic. I could not trust taking my professional equipment, so I took the new digital camera.

That little camera changed my view of the digital world.