Artist's profiles usually include a Very Serious Portrait, so who am I to oppose tradition? I even wear black sometimes.

Photography has been a hobby and obsession for a numbers of years, although I only recently started getting "serious" about it. I'll photograph anything that interests me, but I tend to be attracted to shapes, texture and detail, as opposed to the grand landscape. I love to photograph people, but I'm not very good at making them look glamorous!

I look for things that excite me, and try to render them in a way that excites others. I'm not inspired to preach or grind axes. To date, I have no photos of sad-looking people in far away places, but I suppose it could happen.

I do much of my work with a 4x5 view camera. Think of the old-time photographer with a black cloth draped over his head. He's using a view camera. Although we no longer use flash powder, the principle is the same. The huge negative records vast amounts of detail, and the cameras themselves are quite literally flexible, allowing control over the plane of focus and perspective. In the end, however, cameras are just tools. I've taken interesting photos with a $1 yard sale camera.

Music is another obsession. Music and photography are wonderfully complementary hobbies, and they relate to each other nicely. They each afford an opportunity to use both halves of your brain.

I am also an adjunct Astronomy instructor at the College of Charleston. When I'm forced to earn a living, I work with computers. But I'd rather be taking pictures.

- Kevin Bourque