Welcome to My Fathers World. This website showcases my photographs of the fingerlakes region, as well as other areas. Subjects include lakes,waterfalls,landscapes,panoramics, numerous state parks, boats, sunrise/sunsets, butterflies, dragonflies, spiders, other insects and critters, fungi, birds, barns and covered bridges.

In addition you will find several lighthouses and the washington monument. There is also an events page with dates and locations to find us, also contact information and pricing on custom matting and framing.

Thank you kindly for stopping by. I hope you enjoy My Fathers World and feel free to contact us with any questions or comments.

Birth of a Dream

In 1999, my wife and I decided to go to Hawaii to celebrate our 35th
wedding anniversary. After returning home, we realized that we needed
to find a way to supplement our retirement income. I suggested that we
pursue our bird watching hobby and combine it with photography. We
took several months to discuss and pray about this, wanting to be sure
that God was in this with us.
In the fall of 2000 I took my first photography class, and a second in
February, 2001. Before these classes, I never took my camera off of
automatic. Now I look through the camera lens and see a different
world. Two years after we first dreamed this idea, we felt that God was
indeed telling us this was His will for us. Little did we know how much
our lives would soon change.

A Normal Day at Work
Monday, May 7, 2001 was a normal day at the construction site where I
worked as a mason. Around 2:30 p.m. I headed for the porta-john. My
next memory was the EMT telling me what had happened during the
previous half hour. As I returned to my work area, the workers on the
third floor lost control of a broken piece of sheetrock weighing about 8o
pounds. It flipped end over end and hit me twice. The first hit knocked
off my hardhat, allowing the second one to open my scalp, injure my
neck and shoulder, break five teeth, and destroy my glasses. So much
for a normal day at work.

Heart to Heart with God
Six weeks later, I felt a slight pain in my left shoulder and chest area
after digging holes for rose bushes. It receded and then returned with a
vengeance two minutes later. I was having a heart attack. My wife
called 911, and I was rushed to the hospital, where I was immediately
taken in for angioplasty and a stent. Throughout the whole procedure—
even after the paddles were used on me twice—I never stopped
praying, often out loud. Never before had I prayed that hard or that
long. I am so thankful that I have a personal relationship with God, and I
know He answers prayers.

God spoke to me through the verses I read in my Bible while recovering:

Psalm 69:1-2  Save me O God, for the waters have come up
to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no
foothold.

Psalm 71:20-21  Though you have made me see troubles,
many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the
depths of the earth you will bring me up. You will increase
my honor and comfort me again.

Psalm 40:1  I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me
and heard my cry.