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 I began my career as a large format black and white photographer
in my fiftieth year of life, after I returned home from an extended "sailabout" of
12 years on the high seas. Coming back to the Northwest with
a seasoned eye for the outback landscapes of the far reaches
of the world, I saw my own American West with a new and deeply
felt appreciation. To me it is the black and white interpretation
of that landscape that effectively conveys the joy of creation
that I feel when the sun lights the fields and streams in the
early morning dawn. A successful picture to me not only tells
a story, but it has a soul, a reason for hanging on your wall.
When I expose the negative, I try to incorporate the energy of the moment into the composition. Sometimes that is an implied ongoing movement, but more often it is a structural component in the scene that creates the illusion of some silent but powerful force. For me, seeing that energy flow is the first step in achieving something unique and profound. In these modern times I relish the burden of my large format Linhof as I trek to our western outback. It is the studied care that is taken with each shot that makes large format photography an intensely personal and emotional adventure. The composition and final exposure ultimately exposes the potential of light as it interplays on the greens, reds, yellows and blues of our environment. Taking that single negative to the darkroom and creating an image that transcends the reality of its exposure and becomes something timeless is my ultimate creative goal. To achieve that goal I have chosen equipment that has become with time the extension of my thought process. My 4x5 is a Linhof Technikarden with Schneider and Fuji lenses; for 35mm work my camera of choice is the Nikon D2X with a large assortment of Nikon lenses; my darkroom enlarger is a Durst Multigraph, a dedicated black and white machine, with Schneider lenses, and my color work is done in Adobe Photoshop CS2 and printed on an Epson 4000 printer. |
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