Autumn Ivy Photograph

My career spans over fifty years, perfecting my technique in a wide variety of assignments. I graduated with honors from the prestigious Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, California. Brooks was one of the top three photo schools in the world. I also had the rare privilege of studying under the renowned photographer, Ansel Adams in 1979. Prior to moving to San Diego, California in 1976 I distinguished myself as a free-lance photographer in my native New York and in Los Angeles. I also worked as a photographer for the Defense Audiovisual Agency in San Bernardino, California. In San Diego I operated a commercial studio located in the Miramar area, known as Stokka/Allen, where we performed a variety of photography including, product, industrial, scientific, commercial and portraiture. Among our clients were the San Diego Convention Center, the San Diego Regional Center, the Bank of Commerce, Decratrend Paint, Sherwin Williams, Gateway Computer, SAIC, Center City Development Corporation and Intuit. My award winning photography has been exhibited in New York, Paris, Los Angeles and San Diego. Among my honors are the Grand Trophy, Los Angeles County Fair and the Earl Theisen Memorial Award. This special award is bestowed on the photographer whose work “most successfully portrays the relevance of photography in todays world.” I share this honor with only a handful of other preeminent photographers. Focusing my attention on the day to day operation of my business left little time to devote to producing and exhibiting my personal work. We closed the studio in 1998 which allowed me more time to pursue the kind of photography I enjoy most. I’ve been amassing these images for years but only recently decided to market them. I am, in effect, now ready to “go public” with my work. That’s what led me to Saatchi Art. Hopefully visitors to this site will enjoy them as much as I do and will elect to make their favorites part of their collection. I’m influenced by the old master painters like Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Monet, Michelangelo and photographers like Ansel Adams, Arnold Newman, Josef Karsh, Sherman Hines, Julius Schulman and many other creatives too numerous to mention. Over the years I’ve worked with several different formats ranging from 4x5 to medium format to 35mm and recently to iPhone. I made the transition from film to digital in the late nineties.