Out in the field, I respond to a convergence of light and visual elements that form a balanced composition and a moving visual statement reflecting my emotions at the time.   When composing a scene, the large ground glass of the view camera helps me isolate a composition.  I am particularly attracted to often fleeting situations involving interplay of low angle light on the land along with attractive clouds.

I prefer a straightforward approach to photography that works with the conditions, tools, and materials, rather than overly controls them.  Forcing a photograph usually results in disappointment ; my most successful photographs are usually those when the situation all but takes the picture and I feel that I am there mostly to facilitate.  The same approach applies later in the darkroom.  The negatives that all but  “print themselves” and do not require extraordinary gymnastics in the darkroom, are usually (though not always) the most successful.

To me, the natural world and particularly wilderness represent the ultimate in health and balance.  We humans have much to learn from the natural world.  Summing up in just a few words why I photograph is not easy, but here goes:  I attempt to convey through the medium of photography the grace, beauty and balance inherent in the natural world.  Along with the beauty at the surface, I am pulled by the deeper qualities of wilderness that reflect its very spirit.  Edward Abbey in Desert Solitaire expresses it well:

“But the love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth, the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only home we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need—if only we had the eyes to see.”

I hope that my photographs mirror the spirit of these places and raise awareness that the natural world must be protected and preserved for its own sake, as well as ours.  We have just this world and it is our only home.