This land is unreal. The rock forms, the textures and the movement of ancient oceans stilled in rolling layers of sandstone are my constant occupation. The sparse vegetation, the sharp spines of cacti that embrace the delicate petals of their own flowers and the pungent aroma of sage and juniper spice the air I breathe. The great walls, the far buttes and spires, and the deep winding canyons that tease you with the promise of a seep around the next bend. These things have lured and now hold my soul, that I'm forever in search of. These photographs are the best clues of where I can be found.
My best photographs start with visual sensations, the abstract qualities of a particular scene. I emphasize what I'm visually experiencing with contrast, juxtaposition, angle texture, lighting, shape and size. I either include a hint of land that offers the perception of scale or I hide or don't include it, provoking my father's most common comment - "what is it?" I wasn't trying to torment him (but maybe) and knew when he said that, that I'd scored a good photo. I still work that way. Since we human see in color, making photographs in BW immediately abstracts the image and bring you, the viewer, and I, the creator, closer to what I was seeing, thinking and feeling, for emotions, too, are naturally abstract. I think of this work as "my inner Utah" in BW.
Images here are from my blurb.com book - The Edge of Reality. You can view it here.
