Photography (and most studio art) is nothing more that ‘the art of paying close attention’. When I work, I try to slow down, observe carefully, and attend to the details, the quality of light, and the overall mood or feeling I get at a certain location or at a certain time of day. I love photographing nature and objects up close and capturing the beauty and complexity I would normally walk right by and miss.
In the late fall of 2022, my wife and I traveled to Morocco and in 2 weeks covered over 900 miles visiting the 4 imperial cites: Rabat, Meknez, Fes, and Marrakech as well as the Sahara Desert and the Atlas Mountains. We marveled at the architecture, the ancient and current artisan work, the welcoming, industrious, and freindly people, and the old city medinas and markets. In this collection of images I include a variety of photographs from our travels: city and country landscapes, as well as a series of close-ups of Moroccan doors. My door collection is quite large so for this collection I chose mostly older doors for their well-worn and abstract qualities.
The challenge with photographing landscapes is finding just the right spot at just the right time of day. Composition and the quality of light are critical as are the type and texture of the clouds (if the sky is involved). When possible, I scout out locations and then come back at various times of the year or times of day in order to capture an image I like. Dawn and dusk are the best times of day to shoot since the lighting is soft and colors are often richer and more varied. During the day, I like shooting when it is overcast since the light is more diffused and there are fewer shadows.
I grew up skating on a pond. The best ice was always ‘black ice’- hard, smooth, and without any snow mixed in. Black ice is also clear and to the close observer becomes a frozen window of trapped flora, air bubbles, cracks, and textures. I love photographing these enigmatic shapes and intricate worlds and creating interesting compositions from nature’s beautiful chaos. In some of the more abstract ice photographs, I have heightened (without adding or altering) the color to bring out the real, yet hidden colors within.
I have been growing, observing and photographing sunflowers for years now. For me, they are the king of the flowers, beautiful both in life and in death - in color or black and white - large or small.
Some images need to be in color, others have much more impact and mystery when they are developed and printed in black & white. These various landscapes take me back to my initial training and large format camera work when all images were in black and white and in order to get the best image with a full range of tonal values, one needed to learn how to ‘see’ all colors in various shades of grey.
These Images are from Vietnam's eastern coastline from Ho Chi Minh City up to Hanoi. Others, including the panoramas, are from the Sapa region in the beautiful mountains and lush valleys in the north-west corner of the country.
These images are from the west coast of Washington State on the Olympic Pennisula. What a magical place...from dramatic coastlines and beachs with sea stacks and driftwood to the old growth rainforests. We only scratched the surface of this amazing state and beautiful pennisula.
I got a chance to visit these magical countries in June of 2017. Here are a few images of New Zealand's South Island and Sydney, Australia.
This sample of photographs is from a larger collection I have been working on for the past four years. From early spring until late fall, I regularly kayak on the Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord rivers frequently either at dusk or dawn. While paddling one is very close to the water, but also acutely aware of the shoreline and the sky. In this series of photographs I try to capture my feeling of being equally present in all three environments (water, land and sky). These photographs are also my homage to these three incredible rivers, each one rich in its own history, beauty and quiet splendor.
What more can I say…I grow and love vegetables and flowers. Some of these images are close ups of veggies and flowers from my garden shot soon after picking. Some I also place in pairs and I call these my 'loving vegetable' series.... and in their dreams I am sure they love each other as well.
I hike a lot in the woods nearby my home. During these walks I kept ‘discovering’ many small stone structures that seemed different in origin from the ubiquitous colonial stone walls and farm field clearing piles. In the last the last few years I have met and worked with some very knowledgeable experts in this small but special field. As a result I have become more and more committed in my efforts to photograph and document these unique stone structures. Here are a few of my images so far.
Photographing people is both a joy and a challenge. I shoot candid images as well as posed but prefer candids and when the subject is unaware that they are being photographed.
I have recently been experimenting with 'stitching' sets of photographs together to make panoramas. These are a few of my photos taken over the last year. A tripod is a must and the resulting images (both in color and black and white) can be very interesting.