Sunday, January 3, 2010

An Introduction



I am a fine art photographer residing in Clovis, New Mexico with my bride of 37 years, Virginia, a golden retriever, Calypso (named after Jacques Cousteau's boat, the word means sea goddess) and a border collie named, EmmaJune. I create photographs of the American West and a few other places, mostly in black and white. All of my landscape photographs are created using traditional methods, a large format camera and 4x5 film. I choose to hand print my black and white photographs also, using traditional methods. Up to very recently I hand printed all of my color photographs as well, but recently it has gotten to be difficult to get the color materials suitable for my type of work so some of my color photographs are now created using digital means. However all of my work is still made using 4x5 film originals. The reason I still use traditional methods is quite simple. In my opinion traditional methods give me the best opportunity to create photographs where I maintain control of every part of the creative process. I feel it is important that the DNA of the photographer be on every piece of work that leaves my studio.

Art and the art of photography



First Light, Lone Pine Peak, Mt. Whitney and the Alabama Hills.

This is one of the premier photographic areas in the west, in my opinion, and maybe anywhere else as well. I had the chance to be in the area the first week in December of 2009. A huge snow storm had moved through the day before I got there which was a great stroke of good fortune. This photograph was made just before sunrise. I used a Toyo 45A camera and a 150mm Sinaron-S lens with a dark orange filter and Tri-X black and white film