Frank is enjoying living 11.6 miles from the high tide mark of the Pacific Ocean, on the coast of California, near Santa Barbara. He recently was an award-winning photojournalist, having lived a lifelong dream for over nine years shooting for local news outlets. Like a lot of photographers, He is now starting a portrait photography business. Frank has been taking pictures (mostly with Nikons and Canons) for a long time - for over 60 years, in fact. He has loved shooting with Minolta, Olympus, Nikon, Canon, Sony, and Fujifilm. He now shoots with his favorites, the Nikon D500 and theSony a7iii.
This website is a collection of some of his work, personally, and as a photojournalist since 2010.
Frank sometimes takes a camera while driving the beautiful back roads and highways in the area as fast as he can. He also enjoys reading, web surfing, detailing his car, driving competitively, and spending time at the spa and pool. He is married to the former Becki Austin. They have four children, nine grandchildren, and two great grandchildren. He is proud to be alcohol, drug, tobacco, and dog obsession - free.
After careers in radio & TV broadcasting and news, law enforcement, and crisis management training (at the California Specialized Training Institute - CSTI), Frank is 90% retired. The other 10% is spent shooting for Lee Enterprises Santa Maria Times, for which he shoots news and features. Lee Enterprises owns the Santa Maria Times, Lompoc Record, Adobe Press, and Santa Ynez Valley News, among other publications in his area.
In May, 2017 a photograph taken by Frank on assignment for the Lompoc Record took first place in the news photo category in the California Newspaper Publishers Association 2016 Better Newspapers Contest for "Murder Aftermath," a photo depicting the emotional impact of a murder trial.
In April, 2017 Frank was on hand at the California Association of Public Information Officials annual conference to receive the Frank Potter Cowan Crisis Communications Leader Award. The award will be given each year to the Public Information Officer and his/her team who exhibited outstanding leadership during a crisis.
This website is a collection of some of his work, personally, and as a photojournalist since 2010.
Frank sometimes takes a camera while driving the beautiful back roads and highways in the area as fast as he can. He also enjoys reading, web surfing, detailing his car, driving competitively, and spending time at the spa and pool. He is married to the former Becki Austin. They have four children, nine grandchildren, and two great grandchildren. He is proud to be alcohol, drug, tobacco, and dog obsession - free.
After careers in radio & TV broadcasting and news, law enforcement, and crisis management training (at the California Specialized Training Institute - CSTI), Frank is 90% retired. The other 10% is spent shooting for Lee Enterprises Santa Maria Times, for which he shoots news and features. Lee Enterprises owns the Santa Maria Times, Lompoc Record, Adobe Press, and Santa Ynez Valley News, among other publications in his area.
In May, 2017 a photograph taken by Frank on assignment for the Lompoc Record took first place in the news photo category in the California Newspaper Publishers Association 2016 Better Newspapers Contest for "Murder Aftermath," a photo depicting the emotional impact of a murder trial.
In April, 2017 Frank was on hand at the California Association of Public Information Officials annual conference to receive the Frank Potter Cowan Crisis Communications Leader Award. The award will be given each year to the Public Information Officer and his/her team who exhibited outstanding leadership during a crisis.
