John began taking photos in 1993 at his sister's wedding then continuing taking photos through now, thousands of digital images every month for media, weddings and other community functions using high-quality digital equipment and traditional film.

Following his formal education at Allegany College of Maryland with a Communication Media Associates of Science degree and a certificate in Computer Science – Personal Computer he began working at a local professional photo lab as a black & White technician.

John then began working as a staff photographer for the Cumberland Times-News in November of 2001.  John received several awards for his images at the Allegany County fair in 2002.  While there, John became an award winning photojournalist with the photo of the month for October 2005 from the Maryland/Delaware Associated Press, the AP photo story of the year 2005 and an award from the Maryland Delaware DC Press Association for work in 2005.  John is also a Western Maryland Stringer for the Associated Press, Baltimore Sun and other publications throughout the United States and Canada.

John has been a part-time instructor of digital photography at Allegany College of Maryland since the spring ’05 semester.  John is also responsible for the production of two local weekly television programs since 1996 along with video production services for weddings, anniversaries, recitals, graduations, training video and other video production and transfer work.