Biography

Taking pictures has been a life long hobby.  It was a creative outlet and therapy from my day job for 35 years.  In 1995 I became serious and now call myself a photographer.  Now that I am retired from the corporate world photography is my primary avocation.

I have two main interests.  I initially focused on fine art black and white using silver based films and traditional chemical darkroom processing and printing.  Subject matter was primarily landscapes and historic sites. 

In 1999 I started taking wildlife photographs while on safari in Africa .  Early work was film based but I switched to digital in 2005.  I have focused on birds and big cats, though all wildlife is interesting to me. 

I use several processes to make finished prints.  Silver based black and white images are hand processed in my own darkroom using traditional chemistry.  Non silver based pictures are made by a digital process from scanned film or a digital original and are printed by a commercial lab.  Some black & white images are converted from a digital image.  I use digital processing only to the extent that images could be manipulated in a traditional darkroom.  I cut all mats and frame the pictures by hand.  Animal pictures were taken in the wild.

All my work is on 35mm film or equivalent digital format.  I dabbled with 4X5 for a year or two but found my spontaneous shooting style clashed with the contemplative nature of large format.

I am mostly self taught, though I have had some formal training in black and white technique and wildlife photography.

My formal education is a B.S. in Chemistry, Penn State and M.S. in Chemistry, University of Colorado .  My working career was as an industrial chemist.  I am an experimentalist by nature and hopefully this trait manifests itself in my photography.

Recognition

Finalist in Natures Best Windland Smith Rice International Photography Awards 2008

Semi-finalist in the Shell (BBC) Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition (10 images), 2008

Honorable Mention in Photography, Tinicum Arts Festival 2008

First Place in Photography, Art in the Park, West Park, Allentown, PA 2002, 2004, 2005

Juried entrant in Phillips Mill Photographic Exhibition, 2008

Juried member of the Lehigh Chapter, Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen

Past exhibitor at the Artisans Touch Coop, Allentown/Emmaus, PA

Past exhibitor at the Connexions Gallery, Easton, PA

Photographic Integrity

As stated above older black and white images are hand processed in my own darkroom using silver emulsion papers.  I firmly believe that at least half the art of photography is in the darkroom.  I will not represent the interpretations of other technicians as my own creativity.  Color and black & white images that I shoot digitally are completely adjusted by me using commercial software.  I find that I have just as much if not more creative capability with digital as I do with traditional chemical processes.

Digital images are printed by a commercial lab, as is, with no further manipulation or adjustments.  The lab uses a digital enlarger to print on photographic papers which are developed with traditional chemistry.  I have  not used digital printing techniques such as inkjet or dye sublimation.

I have traveled extensively and I have photos from many different countries, my favorite locations being in Africa .  Wildlife photographs are in the wild - typically in national parks.  These parks are usually fenced but encompass areas measured in hundreds of square miles.  I sometimes photograph on commercial game preserves or rehabilitation farms;  they are wild animals but are contained within a fenced area usually in the tens of thousands of acres in size.  I always disclose the environment in which the photo was taken.

Digital Philosophy

I resisted the transition to digital for a long time. Not that there is anything wrong with digital photography, I just felt more comfortable having images on a solid piece of film rather than as a collection of organized electrons tucked away as bits and bytes in a black box. When I finally made the decision to go digital I established a personal philosophy. I will not do anything with a digital image that cannot be done with traditional darkroom processing. I will adjust contrast, brightness, and white and color balance. I may crop an image, I will not combine parts of images to make a composite. I will not remove objects such as utility poles that "detract" from the picture. I treat each image as though it is on film.

[ Home ] [ Biography ] [ Ordering ] [ Galleries ] [ Show Schedule ] [ Links ]