Pond's Edge

Nature Images

"A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain."        - from the  U.S. Wilderness Act of 1964

Wilderness: "Untrammeled By Man"

Unlike the urban photos featured on this website, in which human-made structures are the inescapable focus of the images, my photographs of the natural world are almost exclusively devoid of the artifacts of human culture. They are views of unspoiled nature in its many forms, perhaps depicting the world envisioned by environmental pioneer Howard Zahniser when he authored one of the most important pieces of American legislation enacted during the 20th century, the Wilderness Act of 1964. This law protects over nine million acres of US wild lands from the ravages of development and other human activity. The quote at the top of this page is the specific description set forth in the Wilderness Act. In spite of protections provided by this historic legislation, and the ongoing efforts of many people and organizations around the globe to strengthen these and other protections of our environment, the growth and impact of the human population on the natural world is encroaching steadily, even in protected wilderness areas, as the effects of pollution and climate change have no respect for boundaries and designations. I capture my impressions of the unspoiled natural world as a personal response to a setting I love and revere, but also as a way, perhaps, to preserve it in the one way over which I have complete control—photographically.

Digital Landscapes

I approach the selection and processing of my photographs of nature as an artistic endeavor. I seek to objectively create a visual image guided by my sense of design and composition as an artist and photographer. My passion for the natural world inspires me to select certain subjects and photograph them with great care, but the practice of composing a finished digital "painting" is a design oriented process in which I employ whatever tools I have in order to reveal an underlying visual order and aesthetic through my subject.

Like all photographs, my nature scenes are abstractions of the real world (see my discussion of Photographs As Abstractions). While natural subjects evoke indelible associations with beauty—and I certainly aim to capture and show this—in all of my images I share with the viewer my experience of discovering the abstract beauty of a scene, whether popularly classified as beautiful or not. I hope this process is enhanced as you view the images on this site.