I've
always had the desire to "see for myself" and hopefully live to tell about it. I've been taking photographs and making pictures for nearly forty years. When I was eleven years old, I saved pocket change from a paper route to buy a "Brownie". As my life developed, reality came into focus during the 1960's. I became a hippie surfer. I lost a camera in the mud of Woodstock in 1967. My next camera felt the nightstick and was arrested in the Chicago police riots of 1968. Disillusioned with my formal education, I dropped out of school and hitchhiked across the Americas, into the chaos of California in 1969.I brought my first real camera, a Nikon F2, in time to photograph the World Series of 1977-78. I found my self and discovered what I do best, in Central America during the Sandinista days. I went back ten times, to pick cotton, build schools, to live in the Barrios and tour the 'Country of Poets' with thirty American poets including Allen Ginsberg, Bob Holman and Joe Richey. I still carry fond memories of the many friends and pictures I made in those days. I always returned with gift photos from previous trips. Compasinos traveled miles to see themselves in a show at the National University of Art in Managua, Nicaragua. Jackson Browne also used a few Central American photos in his "Lives in the Balance" concert tour.
For a few years the F2 sat on a shelf and gathered dust while I settled down and raised a family. I became a carpenter and built a house. After a dozen years of 'building', the house was no longer a home. I cashed out and took off, for China. I've returned five time in two years, the results you will see on this website. I believe my best work is in front of me. I'm just trying to understand, filter and translate this complex world we live in.