I was born several years ago in Detroit, Michigan to humble parents. My father was a printer and my mother a homemaker who could do wonderful things with cabbage.

    I had no intention of following in my father’s footsteps, so I decided at an early age to get involved in painting, graphics and photography — and give printers fits.

    After graduating from North Salem High School, Salem, Oregon, with two years of art and oil painting behind me, I enlisted in the United States Air Force, where they thought I’d make a great missile guidance systems technician. In my limited free time I’d prop a canvas against any vertical surface and paint portraits. After several months of electronics training, the Air Force re-thought its position, and I was made an Illustrator for the remainder of my commitment, which concluded in South Korea. At the Base Exchange at Osan, Korea, cameras were inexpensive and I had access to a darkroom, so I hung up my paintbrushes for a time and pursued my new found interest in photography. I admired the crisp landscape work of Ansel Adams, struck up a mail correspondence with him, and in 1966 purchased one of his noted photos — Aspens, New Mexico.

    After four years of service, I worked for the State of Oregon Education Division as a Graphic Artist, the (Salem) Statesman-Journal newspaper advertising department as an ad designer, the Silverton Appeal-Tribune newspaper as Advertising Manager, State of Oregon Employment, again as a Graphic Designer, and SEE Graphics in Salem before launching my own design, commercial photography, publication design, and humorous illustration studio in 1976.

    We pretty much have to do-it-all to stay in business in a town the size of Silverton. April 2008 marked my 32nd year as Kassell Concepts. I photograph, write, then design brochures and booklets.

    I enjoy humorous illustration (cartooning), because humor often drives home a point. Besides, I’m just so-so at realistic figures. I enjoy photography because a photographer has to actually be present at the event to capture a photo, and it’s been my source of income for forty-plus years. I’ve met so many interesting people and witnessed so many gorgeous sunsets that I can’t keep it inside. A photo in an album, attic, or still in a camera is like the tree that falls in the forest and nobody hears. So, I choose to share my illustrations and photos — but like home movies, they’d better be interesting so as to not bore the audience. I published two photo books of my hometown, Silverton Sampler (1972) and Silverton Sampler II (2003). And a humorous illustrated novel, Artie’s Fault.

    In my forty-plus years of photography, film and darkrooms have gone the way of tail fins on cars, and digital photography and its editing programs have made practically everyone a photographer. In December 2007 I bought some canvases, an easel, a few brushes and a selection of Gamblin oils and launched my third or fourth career. Now with our six kids out of the nest, and with my wife Julia’s blessing, I paint, paint, paint — in my very limited time — like when I was in the service four score and more years ago.