I began my photographic career as a full-time photojournalist for The Celina Daily Standard newspaper, collecting numerous UPI and AP awards during my 16-year tenure there.
After starting Mercer County’s first one-hour film processing mini-lab, Miji Photo, I attended the acclaimed Winona School of Photography in Chicago, where I studied under renowned Master Photographers Frank Cricchio, Monte Zucker, "Big Daddy" Don Blair, Tom McDonald and Clay Blackmore. I then turned my interests to portraiture as owner/operator of first Studio E, Photography by Mike Lamm (film) and later Mike Lamm Images (digital). During my 15-year studio portrait career, I photographed thousands of high school seniors, hundreds of families and children, and dozens of weddings in the Mercer County area.
I am recognized as a Master Photographer by the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) and am a lifetime member of the American Society of Photographers (ASP). I served as President of the Lima Society of Professional Photographers (LSPP) from 2001-'04 and served on the State Board of the Professional Photographers of Ohio (PPO) in 2004 & '05. I was named LSPP Photographer of the Year ('01-'05) and listed among the Top Ten Photographers in Ohio by PPO over the same five-year period.
In PPA Print Competition, my images have received four Fuji Masterpiece awards (Best Wedding Album, '01; Best Illustrative Image, '02 & '03; & Best Portrait, '04) and five Regional Judges Choice awards. Two of my images were awarded the William Dumbauld Award ('98 & '01) as the best Illustrative Image by any Ohio photographer.
During my career, several images were selected as part of the ASP Traveling Exhibit to Japan and numerous images have been published in both the PPA Loan Collection and Showcase annual coffee table books. My work has been featured on the website of Master Printmaker Jonathan Penney.
My images have been displayed in both the Fort Wayne and Dayton Museums of Art, and have appeared in Professional Photographer, Ohio and Farm Journal magazines, as well as the monthly publication of The Isaac Walton League and numerous local and regional publications. In both 2012 & 2013, my images were chosen for the cover of Wright State University’s literary publication, The Fogdog Review.
In 2015, my fine art photography filled all three galleries of Arts Place, Portland, Ind., and in 2018, 47 of my macro nature images were selected by Mercer Health to decorate the new Sanderell West Wing at Coldwater Community Hospital. Additional images were selected in 2023 to decorate their Mendon satellite facility.
Although I have retired from the professional photography business, I continue to take pictures for my own pleasure and to feed my visual mind.