Born Kitchener Ontario in 1928, David was the youngest son of a Waterloo Mennonite preacher. When David was fourteen, his parents moved their family to St. Jacobs, where he lived for the next 55 years.
Dave was self taught and was inspired by photo journalism, he learned from books and magazines. In the early years he used a 4 1/4x 3 1/4” folding press camera. In the 50’s Dave acquired a twin-lens camera that allowed him to do candid photography at reunions, barn raisings, auctions and fairs unobtrusively. This period of time was marked by many debates in the Mennonite church as to what was appropriate for Mennonite dress, and what sort of technology was being accepted into Mennonite homes.
The trust and respect with which Dave treated the Old Order community was returned in kind. Dave’s studio in St. Jacobs became a sort of hub where many of his subjects came to visit and remember the faces and events he had recorded.