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The Road Home, CA

Gelatin silver print

Artist Statement

As a young man I wandered the green spaces/parks near my home as well as the factories and rail yards. Both taught me about light and the effect the seasons have on it — valuable currency for picture making. I wandered with no destination in mind but it’s possible that I found a version of me that would not have been possible on any other path.

The camera didn’t take me outdoors — the outdoors took me to the camera as a way of telling others the story. This education was augmented via travel by rail to New Mexico, home of my mother’s family. From the window of the train whole worlds were made visible, the sky so much larger than any painting or photograph, human presence right-sized in relation to the natural world, and I consider that window my first camera.

Later a camera was added to my wandering and though the results were wide of the mark I was not discouraged. Years of practice as a young musician taught me the discipline I would need to better my tradecraft. I had no illusions that the camera or anything in the darkroom would make me better; I would make it better. Decades later a couple of beginning darkroom classes introduced me to that magic that occurs when a blank piece of paper comes to life in the developer tray. Dedicated study of lots of photographs (still a ritual for me) taught me what good photographs are, resulting in what I refer to as a visual literacy. Making (and throwing away) lots of prints and study under master print makers educated me to what was possible emotionally in the fine print.

Experience revealed that my landscapes and man made subjects are really the same — only the approach is different. While work in the natural world demands that I find order in the incredible chaos that is nature, the built environment requires that I discover the disorder in what was designed to be orderly. Both require command of the “supreme instant”, that moment when the light is like no other time. Human made subjects introduced me to geometry, the first but not the only non-verbal language I would learn.

Over the years I have been asked one question repeatedly; “what is your favorite picture?” The quick answer has always been “the next one”, but really, the ones I value most are the images made of something unnoticed before and now made visible by training the eye.

September 2023

For the technically curious

Since 1995 I have utilized various sizes of large format camera from 4”x5” up to 7” x 17”. Beyond the obvious benefit of a lot of detail in the resulting print and the ability to use the camera movements to replicate how the human eye sees, it is the slow and contemplative approach required by working this way that has served my vision the most. At times, during the 5 - 10 minutes required to set up and level the camera a more interesting view is often 10 feet away from where I stopped. And there are other times when during that set up routine I change my mind about what is in front of me and walk away because I or someone else has done it before, or because it’s good but not great. As your seeing matures you realize the one you are willing to walk away from is the most important image of the day.

Prints are made in a traditional darkroom, always by me, and to archival standards from selenium toning and washing of the prints to use of only archival mounting and matting materials. And when a project dictates it, I wet scan negatives to work in the digital environment using pigmented inks on watercolor paper.

Museum Box Sets announcement

I have worked primarily in projects vs. single images since 2000, returning often to a place or subject to discover its essence, and to spend time researching the subject in local libraries or university archives when indicated. Working this way is measured in years, sometimes decades, with distance and access often limited to once a year visits.When it comes time to lay out a project on the work table and begin the difficult (and painful) process of editing it down the the bones there are occasions when a story is more than a print but less than a book. In this case the answer is a portfolio of 8 to 12 images, grouped together and related by subject, location, or emotion.

I am happy to announce the availability of Museum Boxed Set Portfolios with prints priced at a discount below what they would cost if purchased individually. These portfolios number #1 through 5 and contain the #1 - 5 prints not offered for individual sale. Several portfolios offer the only prints available of an image as the exhibition prints have been sold out and the negative retired. Museum Boxed Sets are 10” x 13” (approx.) prints mounted on 16” x 20” boards, ready to be matted and framed. Each portfolio is housed in an archival clamshell box made by Roswell Book Binding, this country’s premier book bindery.

Print Pricing Schedule

Images are printed by me personally in signed/limited editions of 100 with a couple of Artist Proofs used as guide prints. Print numbers #1 - 5 are reserved for boxed Museum Sets consisting of 8 to 10 images housed in an archival custom made clamshell box constructed by Roswell Book Binding.

Gelatin Silver Prints are made on double weight fiber-based paper, toned in Selenium for permanence, and mounted using acid free archival materials. Archival pigment ink prints are outputted on archival watercolor paper and use the same acid free materials.

Print/mount sizes:

10 x 13” print mounted on a 16 x 20” board $150. unframed15” x 19” print mounted on a 24 x 28” board 300. unframed19” x 23” print mounted on a 28 x 32” board 600. unframedFraming is available upon request utilizing Nielsen/Bainbridge top grade frame stock.

For Print orders or to request an in-person lecture/presentation for your art or camera group please contact me directly at;

[email protected]

330.714.1481