About

I have been taking pictures seriously for about 40 years. I find that photography has taught me to "see" the world differently, with more intensity, more purpose and in much more detail. I look for beautiful compositions, colors, shapes, textures, anything the eye finds appealing, while trying to avoid (not always successfully) doing the same things that others have done over and over.

When I am photographing, I find myself completely absorbed and focused, in the "zone" (although some zones are a lot more productive than others). I am much more involved and connected with both my environment and its inhabitants. Taking pictures of people when I am traveling is a nice way of connecting, even if my request to take a picture is turned down, it is usually gracious, and there is still an interaction that wouldn't have taken place otherwise.

History

My first serious pictures were on a "grand tour" trip to Europe after my first year of graduate school (high energy physics). One of my traveling companions had brought along his uncle's Leica. I got several memorable pictures and was really hooked. Photography became a major part of my travels, culminating in a three month trip to Africa and South America in 1972.

One year later, I was asked to photograph the San Francisco Symphony's tour of Europe and the Soviet Union. We were the first American orchestra to visit in many years, as that was the height of the cold war. One of the great lessons of that trip was that I found myself being/acting in ways I didn't like in order to get the job done. I made a very conscious decision that I loved photography too much to turn it into a job.

In the 70 and 80's, I became increasingly frustrated with not being able to fully realize what I saw. I had tried the chemical darkroom and found it limiting, frustrating and incredibly time consuming. Sending pictures out to professional printers was expensive and, ultimately, not my vision. About then, I was starting to raise a family and time became even more precious. Great pictures were defined by how well they captured my family.

In the late 90's, with the coming of digital photography and affordable inkjet printing, I found myself drawn back to photography by the prospect of being able to finish my own pictures, to complete my vision.

I took several workshops, both on photography in general and digital photography and Photoshop in particular.

Since 2005, I have been completely digital. Previous to that, I had been scanning my slides or negatives and digitally processing and printing them myself.

Philosophy

Some photographers are "purists" in that any changes other than color adjustments, burning or dodging certain areas and cropping a photograph (there are those who think that even cropping is not acceptable). Others feel free to start with several images and assemble them into whatever vision they have. I find myself more closely aligned with the first group, but not completely.

I am trying to capture on paper or on the computer screen, what I saw, either directly through the viewfinder, or in my mind's eye when I took the picture. I feel free to make significant, but natural and not radical brightness, color and saturation shifts. I also feel free to remove distracting elements, mostly small, often people, from a picture if I find that what I remove is irrelevant to, or takes away from what I see. Occasionally I will move elements to meet my vision.

Purchasing Prints

Photos are available for purchase in two styles, prints and wrapped canvas.

All prints are made with Epson Archival Pigment Inks on archival paper. All matting and mounting materials are archival as well. The prints should have a display life of over one hundred years under normal display conditions. The canvas wraps are also archival.

Please use the contact form if you would like to get further information about purchasing any of the images.