Photographs


The Natural Environment

The unspeakable beauty, sheer power, and sublime tranquility of the natural environment is the reason I became a photographer thirty years ago. It is the reason I remain a photographer today. I am awestruck by mountains thrust more thana mile into the sky, by a forest of trees that may be a thousand years old, by clouds sweeping over the landscape, by ocean waves pounding against rocks. Yet I am equally moved by lichen growing on tree bark or rocks, by the glassy mirror of a small pond at sunrise or sunset, by the song of a bird or the howl of acoyote. My photographs of the natural world are my attempts to convey the feelings that are evoked in me as I encounter the richness nature has to offer.

The Super Natural Environment
Imagine looking up into the nighttime sky, but rather than seeing the stars you could see the gravitational or electro-magnetic lines of force between them. Imagine being within the nucleus of an atom, and seeing the forces that hold the nucleus together, and the forces that hold the electrons around that nucleus. This is what I see, this is what I feel in places that transport me far from the earth, far from the solar system, far from the Milky Way galaxy: this is what I see in the supernatural world.

The Hand of Man
Goethe once said that architecture is frozen music. Unfortunately music cannot be photographed, so I have turned to architecture, which may be the most enduring expression of the capabilities of humanity. For thousands of years humanity has constructed monuments to its own civilization and cultures, its leaders, and its gods. Some still endure despite the passing of centuries or even the millenia. They often possess a grace, a timelessness, a purity of form, and a stability that reflect Goethe's observation. Today's grandest structures-monuments created by and for financial institutions-lack both historical value or individual charm, yet they create fascinating visual rhythms in the aggregate. But the hand of man goes beyond architecture to any construct of humanity, or even to humanity itself. These have always been an important part of my photographic work and expression.