Nature and landscape are compelling themes for
photography, and they have been among my passions since
childhood. I became fascinated by light and how it could
change the appearance of people and objects. Though I use
artificial lights and strobes when necessary, I developed
much more interest in subjects that lend themselves to
natural illumination. Thus, my work encompasses not only
landscapes and other “nature” subjects, but also people in
natural, often candid, circumstances.
Almost all of my work now involves color images, but I
honed processing and printing skills on monochromes in a
chemical darkroom. Dodging and burning on enlarged
images was standard practice in the traditional darkroom,
though these techniques were difficult to apply to color
printing in such an environment. Today, skills learned in
the traditional darkroom are easily applied to digital
processing and printing of both color and monochrome
images. Because these digital tools are so much more
versatile and powerful than the traditional methods, I now
digitize earlier film captures for current processing and
printing.
In the 1990s I resumed a serious interest in nature and
landscape work, traveling often to the Eastern Sierra and
Owens Valley. The emptiness of those lands is alluring, and
their simple beauty is often ignored by those passing
through too quickly. In these photographs I sought to
capture the history suggested by the lone trees and old
irrigation byways. I wanted the images to have a surrealistic
edge, an emotional tug. Later, I carried this approach to
other areas in California, then to Hawaii, New York,
Kansas and other locales.
Today, though techniques and equipment have evolved, I
continue to strive for a visceral dimension in every image,
to convey the energy or serenity—or whatever—that lies
beneath the visual. I seek the charm and depth often
overlooked in our surroundings, be they majestic vistas,
roadside flora or simply the people we share our lives with.
Aside from digitizing earlier film images, all of my current
work is produced digitally using Canon professional
cameras and lenses. Images are captured in raw format,
converted to Adobe RGB (1998), and individually
processed before printing. Inks, papers and other materials
associated with the final print are all of archival quality.