Many of our readers who follow my wife Irene Shaland’s books, magazine articles, and lectures know me as a photographer who’s photos appeared in Irene’s publications and slide presentations. But only few know that I am also a writer myself. Now, that my first book Suburbanites on Safari is in print and sold in several countries, I felt it appropriate to say a few words about my writing career.
I started my writing almost against my will. In 1990, when I was a young engineer, my friend, John was hired as an Editor of one of the Penton Publishing magazines and asked me if I wanted to contribute a small article. I initially declined, but John was persistent. Finally, I took a deep breath and stepped on the thin ice of creative writing. Little did John know that he had awakened a sleeping writer in me and gave an outlet to my creative energy. I have been writing ever since.
In addition to writing my own magazine articles published by Penton Publishing and other journals, I contributed as an editor and photographer to the success of my wife Irene Shaland’s books and articles that appeared in various magazines in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and East Africa.
My photographs have appeared in over 20 publications and online sources including Holiday Magazine (France/U.K.), The Boston Forward, Tikkun, ZEEK, Diarna Digital Heritage Mapping, Hackwriters (U.K.), IMAGE Magazine, ROMAR Travel, Design World Magazine and other publications printed in Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Antonio, Washington D.C., London (U.K.), Nairobi (Kenya), Seoul (Korea), and Toronto (Canada).
I had several solo photography shows and participated in exhibitions at the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve, Opus Gallery, Leesa’s, Jacky Ray’s, Whimzy Gifts, and various public venues in Cleveland, Fort Lee (NJ), New City (NY), and Detroit (MI).
My first book, Suburbanites on Safari, has started as a collection of memories from our South Africa and Zimbabwe trip and captions for my photo exhibitions. Public interest in one of my photography shows, “Face-to-Face with African Wildlife,” that traveled to several venues around the country, encouraged me to start working on arranging my notes and photos into this book. And now that the work on this book is done, it is time to start the next one. Travel, see the world, capture your adventures in photos, and write about them… What’s there not to like?
Click the link below to find out more about the book:
