 What is photo worthy? I see things that are defined and sculpted by light; a scene, a person, a texture. To my eye, these things are beautiful. The quest to collect these fleeting moments in time is my passion. Once captured, the photograph is a prize to be enhanced by any means available to me. Some are left just as the camera captured them, the only enhancement being in tone or contrast. Others are manipulated to become as much like paintings or illustrations as photographs. I first became interested in manipulated photographs while at The Kansas City Art Institute where I received my Bachelor of Fine Art degree in 1978. That was when the long-lost SX70 film was, in my opinion, at its best. I bought all the film I could afford at the time. The pola-paintings were a painstaking hour or more process but the end result was well worth the effort. There was no digital at that time and no scanners so the little 3 x 3 originals had to be photographed to be enlarged. My senior exhibition was comprised of a series of these Polaroid enlargements. I still have all the originals and the high-resolution scans can be enlarged to almost any size (see them in my Polaroid gallery).
Currently my work involves high-speed equipment capable of capturing a wide range of digital information and a broad color gamut. When combined with a broad gamut printer, the resulting prints can display a range of tone and color that were unattainable only a short time ago (See my Texas Gulf coast series). My goal is to create prints that the viewer will appreciate and possibly want to add to their collection.
Composition is important to me. I see the world as being full of backgrounds. Finding one with an interesting foreground is the challenge. I once saw a beautiful sky; dark threatening clouds from an approaching storm. There was an opening of bright blue sky that created an amazing quality of light. I was driving through downtown KansasCity and had with me my 4x5 Crown Graphic and a film holder loaded with color transparency film. The foreground I wanted was the gold leaf dome of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. I quickly parked my car and followed a man into his locked apartment building before the door closed. I was immediately confronted by the manager who saw what I had done. Somehow I convinced her to let me climb onto the roof through an access hole in the attic. It was no easy task to get onto the roof with my 4x5 camera and no easy task to convince her I was not some crazy person wanting to jump off her roof. Amazingly, I got the image before the light was gone.
This passion for capturing images has led me to some exciting places and interesting situations. Life goes by so very quickly, faster and faster as time goes by. To capture split seconds and celebrate their unique elements is the magic of photography. The eye sees, the mind believes, the hands act. An unrepeatable moment in time is captured. The artist must ultimately decide if it is photo worthy. If the viewer agrees, we have lift off.
I employ the use of film and digital in my workflow. I shoot 4x5 film, medium-format film with Lomographic cameras, Polaroid SX70, and full-frame digital. I do all my own printing with a wide format Epson Stylus pro 7900 HDR pigment printer and the most advanced archival paper available. I currently use Epson five-star rated photographic and fine art papers or Hahnemühle fine art cotton rag. |
