Andrew D. Kline

AD Kline Productions, Photography by Andy Kline (312) 543.1318

Andrew D. Kline, born in 1966 in Peoria, IL, was bit by the photography bug in high school in 1981.One day he was walking past the open door of the school's newspaper office, where he saw the photography editor over a light box sorting images from football practice.He walked in and spoke to the editor for awhile, expressing his interest in photography.The editor shot him the yea, sure look, and said if he wanted to be a photographer, he needed to go and shoot a soccer practice that afternoon.The editor handed him a completely manual Vivitar 35mm camera with a 50mm lens attached, and 2 rolls of film.Andy told the editor he had never used that kind of camera, so the editor showed him how to load the film, take a light reading, adjust the f-stop and shutter speed, and advance the film.Andy left the office grinning so wide his face ached! He went out to the soccer practice and proceeded to shoot the first roll of film.When the roll was completed, he attempted to rewind the film back into the canister.He turned the film rewind lever in the direction of the arrow, hearing the film perforations tear.Not sure of what had happened, he opened the back of the camera to see the film still outside of the canister with the film perforations stripped out and the film totally ruined.Not wanting to miss any more shots, he threw the ruined film away, and loaded the other roll.He then shot the other roll of the soccer practice, then attempted to rewind the film the same way he rolled the other roll.This roll also tore the perforations and ruined the film when the back was opened.Dumbfounded, he skulked back into the newspaper office, and showed the editor the second roll of film, asking what was wrong with the film.The editor almost fell down laughing.The editor then realized he forgot to show Andy about the little button on the bottom of the camera that releases the film in order to rewind.The editor gave him 2 more rolls of film and sent him back out to the soccer practice field for more shots, laughing the entire time.Embarrassingly, this was the start of Andy's photography career.

Andy showed artistic talent while working for the high school's newspaper and yearbook.He became a staff photographer for both periodicals, quickly taking to the camera the school loaned to him.He learned as much about photography as he could, and he took as many assignments as he could handle.In high school, he started to perfect his stylistic approach to candid portrait photography.His ideas were a breath of fresh air to the pages his photography adorned.Then, something terrible happened.A guidance counselor advised him there was no future or any money in photography or in any artistic career for that matter.The counselor said to keep photography as a hobby, but not as a career.He specifically said that Andy did not want to go through the starving artist phase.The guidance counselor said Andy's aptitude test scores showed a good match for computer science.For some reason, Andy listened, and after graduating from high school in 1984, went to Illinois State University to study computer science.

One miserable year later, failing out of college, Andy went to see a US Navy recruiter about a possible job in photography.The recruiter told him there were no jobs available at the time, and Andy would have to wait up to two years to join if he wanted to be a Navy photographer.However, said the recruiter, we have a deal for you.Take this test, pass it, and become a Nuclear Power Specialist, and get a $ 5000.00 bonus.Well, the money carrot worked, as Andy passed the test and joined the Navy to become a Nuclear Electrician's Mate.The Navy and Andy did not get along well, even though it gave him many opportunities to photograph people, places, and things around the world.

After leaving the Navy, Andy went to work for a large electric utility in the Chicago area.He started out as a field operator at a nuclear power plant in Zion, IL, north of Chicago.Trying to find his identity, he began studying to become an engineer at the local junior college.During his 2 semesters at the college, Andy maintained a 3.89 GPA while attending class full time.He was hired as a staff photographer at the College of Lake County Chronicle, the college's weekly newspaper, where he became a rather prolific photographer, accepting every assignment offered to him as well as suggesting and shooting others.The college newspaper submitted issues for review to the Illinois Community College Journalism Association.In the weekly & bi-weekly categories, Andy won first place for 1998 for the best single photo, entitled Rachel Huriado evades College of DuPage defender".

Andy, still searching for his identity, left the union, entering into management in 1997.The power plant was closed forever less than 2 months later.He transferred to another nuclear power plant within the company in Morris, IL, southwest of Chicago, where he worked until 1999.He left the company and began shooting and photo assisting full time.