Chris Hills is a good guy, oh I won't ever admit that in front of him, but he really is. When I don't understand something about equipment--which is often, Chris is the guy I go to... and after about 5 minutes of his relentless busting of my chops he answers my questions... and occasionally separates me from my money. Chris works at the local camera store here in Meadville Van Tuil's. Chris is also a very talented photographer who focusses his attention on what he call 'dirt therapy.' He photographs motor cross racing. And the way he does it scares me a bit. He uses a wide angle lens and gets right in their up close and personal with the racers as they fly(sometime literally) by him kicking up dirt and stones and the like (Note to self--ask Chris how many UV filters he goes thru a season!) I asked Chris if he would come speak to my class at Allegheny about his work and he has agreed. I'm looking forward to seeing some more of his photographs and here what he has to say about his life in photography. I'm always interested in knowing what makes us tick...this striving for image after image after image and it never seems to get dull(ok well I won't say never--we do have moments when certain things seem impossible to have to endure again!) So if you see Chris--remember that he is one of us, a shooter and not just a guy behind the counter trying to sell us the next most expensive thing he has---which by the way is probably what we should be getting anyway instead of settling for a hundred or two less of a camera or lens. I took this picture of Chris to test the new 50mm lens I bought from him this week. I'll use it to show the class ahead of time so they don't run scurrying from the room when they see him walk in(I tried to get through this without a jab!) Photograph by Richard Sayer.