My first job was teaching high school English, and I ran a noisy classroom right over the principal's office. One day he called me down: "It's too loud up there. I'm moving you to the other end of the building." It was a stroke of luck that he put me in the art department where I met a photography teacher. After school I'd hang out in the dark room where I watched his black & white negatives come to life in a tray of chemicals. His street photography taught me the concept of capturing the "decisive moment." Intoxicated with the idea of becoming a photographer, I quit teaching, started shooting pictures, and over time taught myself to make movies. Twenty-five plus years later I've been fortunate to travel the world making documentaries, exhibiting them at film festivals, winning some awards along the way, and teaching the art of filmmaking to young aspiring filmmakers.