OK, a little about me is in order.
I'm a second-generation portrait photographer. My father, Frank O'Rear, learned his trade as an Air Force photographer and eventually bought and built Genelli Studio into the premier portrait studio in the Tri-state area of Western Iowa. Without realizing it he taught me much of what I needed to know to succeed in this profession. My mother was constantly working on oil paintngs, sketches or cross stitch projects and through a strange twist of fate helped me land a job working at a large photographic corporation in their printroom where I gleaned much from long-standing craftsmen in the offset press industry.
Photography was always present in my life (spending summers in a darkroom kind of does that to you) but I didn't begin to take it seriously until I lived in Alaska for 3 years chasing the elusive aurora borealis (aka northern lights). It was then that I "saw the light" and began to seriously explore the profession of photography.
Formal education? I have a degree in Nursing and was an RN for many years working almost exclusively in the operating room. I have a certificate from the New York Institute of Photography (for those interested in those kinds of things).
I currently belong to:
I have been married to my lovely wife Jill (seen elsewhere in this site) for 20 years. We have 5 wonderful children and a precious little grand-daughter. Jill is a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air Force and because of that we get to travel and live all around the world.
