Dutch is one of our newest members and very talented.

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“Photography can never grow up if it imitates some other medium. It has to walk alone; it has to be itself.” Berenice Abbott. This quote has encouraged my visual sense of direction…my pre-visualization of the final image as I am viewing and capturing the scene; see it, capture it, develop it and present it.

“Ultimately, my hope is to amaze myself. The anticipation of discovering new possibilities becomes my greatest joy.” Jerry N. Uelsmann. And I, too, am truly amazed at all of the beauty that makes up the universe we live in.

But, then… it’s complicated. I love the act of dissembling and reassembling (and not necessarily into its original form.) For me it is usually, “If….then…., and why not….?”

My photographic education and experience is a self taught one with reading, classes/workshops, and with camera clubs, coupled with a willingness and driven desire to explore, push the boundaries, fail, and then hopefully to succeed in the art of image making. The earliest and most fulfilling experiences for me in the ‘70s were my trips to New England at the Zone IV workshops with Fred Picker and his instructor staff. Carrying my 8x10 view camera, setting up the camera, making an exposure reading, viewing the upside down/reversed image, waiting for the light, another exposure reading and then squeezing the bulb. Wow, one image done, maybe a few more can be made this same day. Oh yes, and then the wet processing of negatives which hopefully would result in an image worth talking about and viewing for some time.

And now we are digitized.

I approach the making of a digital photograph in this way; to discover that decisive moment, that image of light and dark that freezes all of your other thoughts and, drives you to see that image from beginning to end. The ‘Live’ view is the closest I can get to that large format feel, seeing that image on the screen and simultaneously visualizing the final black and white image that I will produce with Lightroom.

What we observe, feel and experience forms the core of ones life story. Part of my story is reflected in photographic images taken in an instant of time, that force me to stop and become part of that world, that here and now. The act of processing those images for public viewing allows me to express how deeply, either with awe, joy or sadness, those moments in time have affected me. My images are how I tell my story.