My name is Dale Bengston. Who am I? is maybe not as interesting as How did I get here? I spent twenty years in high-tech marketing and digital publishing before I started my own computer business in 2002. During my days in marketing, the entire industry went digital. The old ways of color separations and keylines gave way to digital scanning and electronic layouts. Everything I produced – ads, brochures, product packaging, trade show signs – it all went electronic. Looking for a career change, I decided to climb onto this digital wave and see where it put me ashore.
I learned how to scan from one of the masters of the old way – back when you got one chance to get it right and a good scanner cost a quarter of a million dollars. My mentor was making the transition from manual color separations to computer-based imaging; we both taught each other many things. Later, I managed another prepress house and then the art department of a public relations firm where I was in charge of all the print production as well as a talented group of graphic designers.
Looking for a departure from the crazy deadlines of marketing and print production, I caught another wave. I signed on to manage the photography collection of a large multinational corporation. This company had a large library of photography – most of it digitized – but not much in the way of keeping track of it all. I built an archive for the photography collection, and put it on the Internet. Sharing a collection like this on the Internet was a revolutionary idea at the time, even though now it seems completely commonplace.
Here at Ask Tagee, I’m putting it all together. My love for history, art, technology, and my expertise in using the Internet for collaboration and sharing. So scanning and sharing family artifacts is my next wave. I have enough family stuff to keep me busy scanning for at least the next ten years. Who knows what I’ll do then.
Meanwhile, I spend my free time (I have any) merging art and technology to produce panoramic photography. Some of my favorites are up at DaleBengston.com.