Artists Statement

I am drawn by light,
reflected and radiant light
in interaction with moisture,
stone, and vegetation.

LOVE OF THE LAND

My understanding of what is most beautiful has been shaped by the vast and majestic land forms of the American west. The preciousness of water in the Southwest and its delightful abundance in the Northwest have made me acutely aware of moisture as the lifeblood and sculptor of land.

I am drawn to those places and spaces which challenge me physically and spiritually.
Mountains, plains, canyons, and watercourses provoke my imagination, my own need for physical discovery and adventure. What will I find exciting around that next bend or from the top of that next rock?

I return again and again to these same places as each occasion prompts the imagination to wonder what a scene might be like to photograph in different seasons and light conditions.

I have photographed in Canyon de Chelly and environs every year since 1987, in Mongolia’s Altay Mountain region, as part of an ongoing art and archeology project, since 1992.
In the American West and Mongolia I seek to capture the thin traces of human existence from a time when people lived lightly on the land. The manifestations of daily life and ritual merge and are softened by the natural landscape. I want to capture that aspect of the natural world which stands apart from human existence but am often struck that the locations to which I am drawn to make photographs are often the same places that are the most rich in the ritual artifacts of ancient peoples.

Portraits of people in Mongolia have grown out of their intense interest in being photographed. I have returned the next year with the images to be delivered to the subjects and have been told that the quality is good but the service is slow.

In the Northwest I have pursued, for many years, the low elevation forests near Eugene in every season - towering firs with a dusting of snow, brilliant red vine maple in fall, and quiet summer creeks. 

My six years of work in St. Petersburg, Russia has emphasized more architectural themes where the images capture the cool diffuse Baltic light warmed by the ochres and golds of the building stone.

I strategize
where to be for a certain time....
and timing is everything.

My work has been collected and exhibited since 1970.