About

The Photography

I currently explore the modern digital photography world armed only with my iPhone. I don't believe a photo from any camera should be the final piece. My files are worked in Adobe Light Room Classic and Adobe Photoshop which allows me to perform the dodging, burning, masking, filtering, and other procedures I did printing from negatives in the darkroom for many years. 

Me

I majored in advertising and minored in commercial photography at The University of Texas at Austin. I was a commercial photographer for twenty years. During that time, I pursued art photography in 4x5, both color and black and white. I was, am, a devout Ansel Adams Zone System follower. I attended a Yosemite Workshop in 1989; after Ansel's death by a few years, but still a treasured experience. 

I've had gallery representation in Scottsdale, Arizona. I photographed and exhibited prints of the Berlin Wall in 1989. I was the guest of the artists' union in Baku, Azerbaijan in 1990. There were some fun times for sure. 

Fun wasn't enough and the Houston economy was tough in the late 80's but was on an upswing in the 90's. I stopped shooting commercially and started a garden design business to follow my other passion. I've been doing that for thirty years and guess what? I still get the urge to reconnect with my world in the way I love the most, photography. 

I could tell you photography is spiritual for me, there is an unspoken communication with my subjects, I have something to say, and I have much to hear. That would all be true, but you really need to know I view photography as a fine craft, a technical skill that I want to constantly hone. It is the technical masters of American photography that I love and respect and feel their influence in my approach to photography. Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and Minor White influence me in the field and even more in the darkroom, Light Room, that is. Walker Evans, Aaron Siskind, and Harry Callahan are my main peeps in the field. 

I have sadly come to accept that there isn't much interest in the style of photography I love creating. Most people don't even know who the iconic photographers are that I follow. My gardening work still consumes the bulk of my time and the past few years of a Covid world has brought my photography excursions to a halt. As I begin to accept that my photography should not be done in anticipation of an audience but rather for the inner satisfaction it brings to me, I think I shall be shooting again real soon. 

12/23/2022 UPDATE - My how time flies and how one's views and aspirations can change with the time. I have experienced a lengthy period of disdain for photography as a form of self expression. I've reached a time in my life that I no longer feel I have a voice or a vision that is important to anyone, sadly not even to me.  Since I haven't been shooting for a few years now, I haven't even looked at this website, much less added photos to it. 

Looking at this site today has been a very pleasant experience. I love my photos! I'm proud of the images I have captured using an iPhone. I still get a spark thinking of processing those files as though Ansel was looking over my shoulder. But when I shot commercially many years ago, my color work was what got public recognition, not my black and white work. I have already posted some color work but today I feel the urge to add more and express some creativity inspired more by painters rather than photographers. This has nothing to do with having an audience to validate my work. I just am reacting to a renewed since of satisfaction from simply creating.  

10/01/2023 UPDATE - And more time marches on. Having spent the day lost in LightRoom, working files I've visited many times over the years, I feel so connected and content. My view of photography is still full of sadness because no matter how creative I think I am, I soon discover there is nothing unique about my images. I need only open Instagram to find images almost identical to mine, over and over. That is especially true when I strive to be an obedient student of my beloved masters of the past. Actually, I haven't had any desire to shoot anything other than snapshots of my gardens since I posted the previous update. Today though, revisiting my color work of walls and old buildings has stirred some emotions. My entire photographic journey has had one specific influence always anxious to be expressed. I see color field art of the 1940's and '50's screaming to be uncovered everywhere. I see abstract compositions and almost hear Matisse, Mondrian, Pollock, Picasso...whispering to me.

9/15/2024 Well I can't say I have been moved to photograph anything other than my gardens. But alas, a new iPhone 16 Pro arrives next week and I'm anxious to give it a workout. I believe an outing is on the horizon.