Artist Profile

Through my photography, I share the things I see in the natural world around me. My photographic aim is to simply have the result appreciated by the viewer. And while I try to achieve a realistic looking product in most of my photographs, I sometimes enjoy rendering the photograph in a painterly or dreamy fashion . . . it all depends on the photograph in front of me.

We should never forget that photography is 'drawing with light' or 'painting with light.' My photograph is never finished until I have adjusted the light somehow with my digital brush. While the camera gives me the raw product, it is never finished until I have finished my personal light painting. I am a photographer and my end product is a photograph that I have produced.

My decision to take a photograph is sometimes a surprise, that is, something I notice as I drive along a road, or a movement that catches my eye as I stroll through a park; but more often, my creations are the result of wonderful anticipation. I love the anticipation of a shoot, the anticipation of a visit to a new area. Then, during the digital darkroom processing, I edit the photograph to get something that pleases me, a photograph that represents what I saw. In art, I feel everything is okay. You are the artist . . . use whatever 'post-camera photographic management technique' it is that helps you to achieve what you are looking for.

I feel there is an immediacy in photography that does not exist in any other art form. We have all seen examples of a photographer being in just the right place at the right time to capture an unforgettable photograph (e.g., Nick Ut's shot of a little girl running naked after being burned by napalm in Vietnam, google "Napalm girl"). In many genres of photography, there exists an immediacy that says, "Get it now, or you will not get it at all." Pull your car over and take that shot the moment you see it.

I began my true photographic journey as a forensic photographer capturing the brutal side of life and one day decided I wanted to capture the beauty that I witness.