Biography

Short Version:
I’m a self taught photographer in the sense that I’ve never taken a photography class. I have learned a lot from many photographers though, but I’ve learned the most from my own mistakes over the past 25+ years.

Long Version:
WonderLight does not translate into Wunderlich in German. That would be Wunder Licht. Wunderlich actually has a meaning of someone who is a little crazy and I try to live up to that. Since most of you wouldn’t be able to properly pronounce Wunderlich, yet alone remember how to spell it, I thought it best to name my business something you could remember; WonderLight Photography.

I’m a self taught photographer in the sense that I’ve never taken a photography class. I have learned a lot from many photographers though, but I’ve learned the most from my own mistakes over the past 25+ years…and I’m still learning.

I’ve been called an amateur photographer in a derogatory way on more than a few occasions. Rather than get all pissed about it, I thought I’d just wear that badge and show a few “pros” what an amateur can do. I enjoy Ken Rockwell’s tongue-n-cheek definition of The Seven Levels of Photographers.
and his Level 5 Amateur describes me pretty well. Webster’s says an “Amateur refers to one who does something for the pleasure of it rather than for pay and often implies a relative lack of skill”. I do create images simply for the love of it. I’ll let you be the judge of my skill level.

I grew up in sunny Southern California and played outside most of the time. We lived out in the desert and I spent hours riding my bike in the fields, discovering nature and watching the sunsets. I love the outdoors.

Reading was always work for me. My mom forced me to sit down and read (picture kids playing football outside while I’m staring out the window when I was supposed to be reading). That didn’t mean I hated books. I loved books, as long as they had pictures in them. My parents had collected National Geographics for years and every month when a new one came out was like Christmas for me.

Unlike some kids who didn’t like to sit in a car for hours on end, I actually have fond memories of all the places my dad took us. I’ve been to Zion, Bryce, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and Mount Rainier just to name a few. All of these were awesome and made a permanent impression upon me.

Music influences my images too. For me, most of my images sing of Jackson Browne, Bruce, Washington artists like Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel, Magical Strings, and Pearl Django. Sometimes music like Yes or even classical like Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and Bach. Occasionally it’s Metallica, Accept or Dream Theater.

A few of the photographers that influence me include Jim Brandenburg, Art Wolfe, Bruce Heinemann, Jesse Young, Don Kirby, and John Clement.

I’m a mechanical engineer by training but my day job is a technical support manager which pays the bills and funds the hobby. I used to wrench on cars to make them go faster but now I just maintain the ones I have so I don’t have to buy a new one.

If you look close enough, you’ll see a little bit of all this within my pictures. For me, photography is not about the gear but rather an avenue to express my life experiences and the things I love. As I learn my craft, the easier it gets for me to accomplish that.