Influenced by his father, whose lifelong photographic passion started pre-WWI, Burkholder began in his teens using his Kodak Brownie camera, processing, and printing film. His sensitivity to form and composition is attributed to exposure to works of historic master photographers such as Atget and Brassaï and Impressionist painters, photography self-study and workshops, and a wide experience in image editing and presentation. Educated in medicine, he benefited profoundly from the classical training of observation. Upon retiring from many years of medical practice he built a studio equipped for digital image editing and printing as well as high-end film digital scanning.