Evolution of an Artist/Photographer
Ever since, as a child, I snapped my first picture with a Brownie box camera, or “discovered” pinhole imagery in a makeshift tent, I've been fascinated with the magic of capturing light and creating images. This interest has found a range of expression over the years, including drawing, painting, graphic design, and photography. I got hooked on photography in my late teens, on a backpacking trip into Oregon's Mt. Jefferson Wilderness with my first "real" camera, my aunt Sadie's Mamiya/Sekor 500 TL 35mm SLR. I couldn't discover enough ways to use all of the camera's features on that trip, but I got blissfully engrossed in the process of trying!
I quickly discovered the unique expressive potential of taking pictures, particularly when combined with my growing interest in painting. This was enriched by studying the work of such masters as Charles Sheeler, Edward Hopper, Ansel Adams, Margaret Bourke-White, Andrew Wyeth, and Richard Estes. My passion for capturing the visual world around me grew out of photography, and I still go to the camera as my primary tool for interpreting subjects. My paintings have a distinctly photo-realistic look, while my finished photographic images have been described as painterly and graphic. The disciplines in which I've worked—graphic designer, illustrator, painter, photographer—interact and inform each other, but in the end these roles are subsumed in my identity simply as an artist.
Throughout much of my artistic career I also taught art at the secondary or college level. I believe that I became a more understanding, responsive person, as well as a more insightful artist, through this experience. I am gratified and humbled whenever I discover that a former student is pursuing a career in the arts. I like to think that I continue to educate through imagery that deepens viewers' visual and perceptual understanding of the world.
My artistic goal is to respond honestly to the visual reality revealed through the camera's viewfinder, and to infuse my finished images with that vision. I take great joy in sharing my work with viewers. I hope you experience some of this by viewing it.