As the warm smile spreads across his face you can almost see the years melt awayas Eric Stampfli thinks back to the moment that would define the course of his life. Itwas a cold morning high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains that a young boy turned tohis father and asked, “Why don’t we ever bring a camera on these trips, why don’twe ever take pictures?” Looking eastward to the rising sun and the promise of a newday his father replied, “We could never capture an image that would do justice to thememory of this moment. A camera encompasses only one sense, close your eyes andfeel the warmth of the sunlight on your face, listen to the crackle of the fire, thewhoosh of the wind through the trees, smell the almost overpowering perfume ofthe evergreens, wood smoke, and the very earth, around you. These things are whatmake up memory, not just what you see.” With that one conversation the challengewas made and Eric Stampfli would spend the rest of a lifetime attempting to provethis medium was so very much more.Born and raised in Northern California, Stampfli is a self-taught photographer,educator, and evangelist for all things creative. Who, over the last 30 years has beenknown as a well established, award winning, versatile advertising and packagingphotographer specializing in intimate food portraits, still life, and Sport Portraiture.After losing his studio and entire catalog of work due to a fire in the late 1990’s,Stampfli was presented with the opportunity to teach young designers DigitalImaging, Photography, and most importantly, Visual Communication at the Academyof Art University in San Francisco.Now retired from teaching, Stampfli has found his creative voice again and works onmultiple commercial and fine art photography projects. He’s exhibited his workthroughout the country and has sold images in both private and corporatecollections. He has won multiple international awards and as part of the ExposureAwards Ceremony had one of his images displayed at the Musée du Louvre July 13th2015.