About
I’m a visual artist living in Williams Bay Wisconsin. I studied photography at NIU in DeKalb with Barbara Thomas. Our first assignment was no assignment – just shoot some film. Most of the class came back with images of big/important buildings in Chicago. Barb was not impressed. She taught us that subject matter is not always the key to a good image. I stayed local to shoot that first assignment, but she was equally unimpressed with my shots of weathered wood. Too cliché she said. Our next assignment was to walk around your neighborhood and take pictures. This taught me to look at everyday life in a different way. To notice the afternoon light coming in the stairwell and creating long diagonal shadows, to catch moments of neighbors passing by, to really look at details and how to see the picture in reflection of the storefront window down the block. Under her tutelage we got better at composition and technique. Of course, it was all film and darkroom back then. I loved seeing an image appear in the developer tray. I remember stained fingers from the fixer. There was no door on the darkroom entrance, it was a light maze. Sometimes I miss the analog days and my old Nikon FM2. It took me some time to transition to digital (I liked all that dodging and burning). I have used various Android phones over the years to create images, and I currently use 2 Nikon cameras.
Man Made
Some of my favorite shots are abstract compositions of man-made structures like bridges or walls. Repeating patterns or unusual perspective intrigue me. I’m fascinated by patina and oxidation. Old rusty equipment or machinery that has seen years of use and exposure to the elements is the basis for many of my macro shots. Technology changes ever more quickly and piles of rusty old junk hold clues to how things used to be, how work used to be done. How buildings were made or vented or changed. They hint at the passing of time.
Natural
Nature is another thing I like to explore – big sky vistas or small vignettes. Zeroing in on some small beauty like a flower pushing through a crack in the sidewalk or deadfall in the forest. Natural forms are exquisite, I try to capture the grace of flowers and trees, insects and acorns. Humans have been attracted to/dependent on the sea since the dawn of time. Making your way across the water or admiring the view from the shore provide equally exciting opportunities to capture the essence of a timeless moment. Clouds can invite our imagination as adults (if we allow them to) as much as they did when we were kids laying on the grass looking up. The sky is painted differently every day.