Sixteen years ago, Stu left his professional fundraising career in Cincinnati behind and retired to Putnam County. With the freedom from this change, he could cast aside many inhibitions and focus on creating things to satisfy himself and others. Those things included a nine-year path as a weaver on hard shell gourds, which he exhibited with his partner Marla Helton, and sold at art fairs throughout the Midwest.

“Through it all there has been my love of photography. From 1975 to 2005, I always kept a wet darkroom for printmaking. It was a monastic-type experience where I paid my dues and learned how to create classic black and white prints. Thankfully, the digital age came along, and I said goodbye to noxious chemicals. My photographic interests are varied, but my greatest thrills come from photographing the Milky Way and the night sky. Ninety-eight percent of photographers are daytime practitioners. For me, I’ll take the night!”