I was born and raised in Jacksonville, Illinois. I moved to the Quad Cities in 1968 with my parents and three sisters. I enlisted into the Navy after graduating from Bettendorf High School.
In 1974 I had the opportunity to make a brief stop in Mombassa, Kenya. While in Kenya I went on a 36 hour camera safari. At the time my camera equipment consited of a Kodak 110 Instamatic.
The pictures I took were at best very amateurish. In my minds eye I can still see those images which I captured during those brief hours. This was my first experience with capturing images that I would like to share with others.
I have always wanted to return and capture photographs that people would appreciate. Today I have better equipment and believe I have learned how to capture images people will appreciate, but I have yet to return to Kenya for another safari. Since then I have traveled extensively and have been to all 50 states and 45 foreign countries. Beginning in 1995 I have visited Europe on almost a yearly basis Germany, England, Italy, Greece and France are a few of the places I have traveled to for my photography business.
I started Worldly Views in 1996 with images from two countries, Germany and England. I wanted to capture views of the world and share them with the world. Two of my most popular images were of doors. "The Green Door - Rothenburg, Germany" and "English Doorway - England".
At one point I started using old doors to build the walls in my 10x10 foot space at art shows. People at that time did not connect my name "Jack" with "Worldly Views". Everyone would say there is "The Door Guy". So I guess in the Art World I am "The Door Guy". My photographs are of more than doors. I also capture images of bicycles, castles, Monet's gardens, and scenic views.
I have not seen the world as of yet, but I am working on doing just that, "Seeing the World". I am a self-taught photographer. When I carry a camera I look at my surroundings in a meditative way. I take the time to see what is around me and I think about what is pleasing to my eye and would be appreciated by others.