About the Photographer

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Biographical Information

My fascination with photography started at age 14 when I was given a box of photographic equipment left behind by the passing of a relative many years before. After developing film sheets still in the old film holders, I was intrigued to find images made decades before of people and scenes no longer familiar to my family. Since that time, nearly four decades ago, I have never been without the means and the interest to make black and white pictures.

Practical considerations and a seven year stint as a technician in the Navy, led me to choose engineering as a career, relegating photography to the status of a hobby. However, in 1989, I successfully entered the commercial photography field on a part time basis to help offset the costs of equipment. After seven years, I gave that up to pursue my photographic interest strictly for enjoyment.

I am completely self-taught when it comes to both the craft of photography as well as the art of composition. I have worked with color, but my passion has always been black and white. In general, I prefer 35mm for cityscapes, but I use both 35mm, medium, and large format for studio work. While my commercial images were produced almost exclusively with a 4x5 view camera, that large format accounts for only a small fraction of my work these day. I continue to do all of my own lab work, including the production of limited-edition fine art prints.

What makes a good photograph? It’s simple, really. A photograph, regardless of the subject, is only art if the viewer perceives it that way. A good photograph is one that attracts attention and holds it. A great photograph is one that's remembered. An exceptional photograph is one that, when no longer available to look at, is missed.

I love black and white photography. I love to view the work of others and upon seeing an exceptional image, I feel a wave of excitement course through me no different from what classical music lovers probably feel at the sound of the symphonies of Beethoven or Mozart. While I may never be listed among the world’s most revered photographers, I love that I have the wonderful opportunity to participate with those other great artisans of the silver image and share their approach to expression through that unique medium.

Artist's Statement

For many years, my main interest has been to travel to the big cities in the U.S. and photograph the ordinary scenes we so often take for granted when we traverse these monuments to man’s architectural skills. Simply put, I love the lines and angles that represent the products of human civilization. Sometimes we’re too busy identifying all that’s wrong with the urban environment to see the beauty and majesty of evolution as created by man. No less important to the larger geometric scenery of squares, circles, and triangles is the way people interact with it, supplying their own personal signature to some small piece of the overall picture. In the end, a city has a character comprised of all these elements, big and small, coming together in a living and breathing entity, establishing a history, and lending an indispensable contribution to the identity of a nation. Through my pictures I try to capture some tiny element of that character in a way that we, as pedestrians, too often miss.

In 1998, I decided to expand my studio experience to include female models. The question in my mind was whether I could do it well. There was the element of challenge. Has it all been done already? Do I have anything different to offer? Only now, years later, have I been able to answer those questions for myself.

I could go into all manner of esoteric description to try and elevate, for the skeptical, how beautiful are the lines and curves of the female body and thus, an appropriate topic of art. But, if my pictures were to contain some sublime social message, that would not be it. One cannot understand my figurative art without noticing the similarity to my cityscape art. The geometrical composition is apparent in both. Symmetry, as in an engineered structure, is commonly apparent in my figurative art, and balance plays heavily in the final framing of the subject. The model’s identity is almost universally excluded from the image, forcing the character of the subject to be projected solely by the pose and props. The message of any particular image must ultimately be supplied by the viewer within his or her own frame of reference. The mere visual appeal may, in fact, be the only message conveyed.

Many of my figurative art images contain at least a hint of sexuality. In the southeastern United States, such images as mine are often considered controversial, sinful, and certainly not appropriate for children. The prevailing attitude is that sex is something that takes place in private between two (and no more) people of the opposite sex (preferably married) who love each other. My work is not specifically designed to be a challenge to those beliefs, but because it’s created in the absence of that mind-set, it may be seen by some as outside the realm of what’s respectable for the more wholesome audience. Sexuality comprises a major part of the human experience making public discourse and expression of that subject relevant and of interest to all people regardless of rhetoric to the contrary. To the extent that my pictures of women contain some nudity and mild sexual content, I’m gratified that they seem to appeal to viewers of both sexes equally.

Equipment

While my commercial work was almost entirely color, I prefer to shoot exclusively in black and white for my artistic endeavors. I gravitate toward urban environments where I find the variety of visual stimuli is almost infinite. I like to transform the ordinary scenes that people pass on the street everyday and make it into an appealing image. I usually go on photo expeditions weighted down with 35mm equipment because I don't want to be without the right lens for the job. I use Nikon F2, Nikkormat EL, 8008s, and F100 bodies with Nikon and Sigma lenses ranging from 14 to 400 mm. I use Ilford Pan F+ and T-Max 100 & 400 developing with Xtol.

In the studio and when traveling by car I often shoot with an RB-67, but since most of my photo expeditions are traveled on foot, I don't care for the bulk and weight of the larger format equipment.

Finally, if time and convenience allows, I will shoot with a 4x5 view camera. This is especially true for still life work in the studio as well as photo expeditions traveled by car. While rare, I will use the view camera for a portrait on occasion. While I love the 6x7cm RB frame, nothing beats the tonal quality of the images from a view-camera-size negative (except maybe a larger view-camera-size negative).