RC Danek Home Page

Who I am, in case you were interested...

Last Updated: Sunday, October 8, 2023, 08:58:32 AM

Photography, Music, Video Making, Writing, Software and Engineering

Someone might say that I have too many interests. I don't mind, though. I don't do them all at the same time.

  • Photography - ever since I was a kid. My Dad got me interested. I saw magic happen when he let me into his kitchen-darkroom (so I had to stay up late). The images went from nothing to something in the developer. I was hooked. I started shooting more seriously while in college. I did black and white, but moved to color slides when I discovered I really wasn't that good in the darkroom. Later, I did a stint as a professional photographer (studio and wedding work). This happened after my first career, in software engineering.
  • Music - my Mom got me started. Piano lessons at about seven years old. Continued for many years. Turned to guitar in high school because, I wanted to do rock and roll. Still do.
  • Video - got the bug about 15 years ago. Spencer Cable Access had an open house and I dropped in to see what they were doing. That lead to covering the town's school committee meetings. When I moved to Agawam, I hooked up with thier cable access center and started - you guessed it, school committee meetings. In between all this, I got the bug for making cooking and gardening shows plus worked on a movie short with Spencer's Paul C. McKinney.
  • Writing - this is both song writing and script writing. I'm not that good at either, but it's just fun to plod along just the same.
  • Software and Engineering - always liked tinkering and seeing how things work. Went to school for electrical engineering, but ended up working more in software over time. These things still pique my interest but I don't really do them anymore.

Casey? Richard? Dick? Caz? Kaz? Huh? Who is this guy!

I'm all of those. Long story. Legally, it's Richard Casimir Danek. Before that, though, when I had a green card, it was Kazimierz Danek (no middle name).

  • As a child, it was Kazimierz, or Kaziu for short. Then, kids started making fun of me by calling me Cashmere Bouquet.
  • My childhood friends called me Kaz (or Caz...it's a spelling thing).
  • High School, sophomore year - I became Casey because we had a new priest who was kind of cool and we shared a name.
  • After I graduated, I became a citizen. I could change my name to anything. I always liked the name Richard. It had a nice, strong feel to it. So, that's what I did and kept the Americanized spelling of my given Polish name as a middle name.
  • When I started working, I became Dick. It's what people liked.
  • Nixon happened and, suddenly, it was Tricky Dick. Ugh.
  • Got married to my high school sweetheart. She always called me Casey. So, that's as official as it get. It's how I introduce myself.