LANDSCAPE COMPOSITES
(or Picture Mortises)

I've a great love for landscape photography. I hold the idea of capturing a window full of river, lake, sea, forest, desert, mountain, river, rock, sky or cloud, near to my heart. Inspired scapes will always live in our minds and walls as well as in galleries and museums. Few things have changed in the last couple hundred years. Most notable is how we're able to gather, capture and enjoy its beauty away from the outdoors. From the romantic, yet realistic paintings of John Constable to the, gestural impressions of Monet and van Gogh, to the many amazing photos created by Ansel Adams, Eliot Porter, Minor White and David Muench we still see it in all splendor as well as the individual's vision. When David Hockney embraced the multifaceted vision of cubism into photography, something quite unique happened. It seemed as if holography emerged within the same time frame.

Then there's me. Still looking at the two dimensional capture, as well as wanting a strong composition, yet always looking for connections that feel as gentle as the morning light being sprinkled over the horizon like talcum powder on a baby's bottom. Wanting the tiniest connections to feel like the most wondrous of discoveries. Digitally layering photos, in a collage like manner and caressing them into magical mortices, where they not only feel like they belong together, but that they're the best of friends. Lovers, if you will, that have so mingled in each other's arms that one seems to dissolve into the other, yet stand alone as the individual moment where light was captured as it is.

Nature inspires me.
My thoughts are calmed in its gentle chaos.
Harmonies of color and texture play within the simplicity of its universe.
Light coaxes form from darkness.
Clouds morph into shapes that tickle the imagination.

I document moments, then caress them into new compositions;
Subtle songs of rhythmic images to be heard through
square and rectangular windows.

I look for connections between the scapes.
Highways and veins,
like roots, reach for something more,
seek paths to a destination,
always coming together for unexpected connections,
like life.

“Tug on anything at all and you'll find it connected to everything else in the universe.” John Muir

Landscape photographs/composites created by hundreds, even thousands of photos I've taken, sorted through and found connections to create new compositions. Printed on museum quality, hot press, rag base fine art paper.

Landscape photographs/composites created by hundreds, even thousands of photos I've taken, sorted through and found connections to create new compositions. Printed on museum quality, hot press, rag base fine art paper.

Landscape and cityscape photographs/composites created by hundreds, even thousands of photos I've taken, sorted through and found connections to create new compositions. Printed on museum quality, hot press, rag base fine art paper.

This series is about time and entropy. Its about exploring and taking chances, and about past and present. The pictures are about seeing the magic and life in places that have been long forgotten. New is; perceived, planned, painted, polished, replicated and exact. Old is; scratched, scared, random, rusted, unplanned, and unique. Young is smooth, fresh, unblemished, impressionable. Old is experienced, scared, worn, wrinkled and wise. I explore with relentless passion to discover the beauty in decay. They're about journey AND then about product. About color and saturation, things lost AND things found, hope, trust AND just knowing something’s special AND unexpected right around the corner. This group of images is about having the guts to go around the corner and finding what needs to be found, about recognizing something needs to be added AND then adding it. They are about personal taste and going on to create universal bandwidth, about learning to see and appreciate things in a different way. It’s about using what works and tossing everything else out. It’s about unwrapping the same gift over and over and over. It’s about accepting/appreciating things for what they are and then making them your own.

I’ve been working on this series of photographs for many years. The pictures are about being open and curious where ever I go. They’re about listening with my eyes. These are songs I hear. Some are violent while others are melancholic. Some playful, others pensive and thought provoking. All of them want to be heard.

I take long walks, sometimes alone, sometimes with friends. I shoot many pictures and then go to my studio to sort them. The ones that I respond to, I saturate. Sometimes I feel like I’m painting with a mixture of ground up skittles and care bears. I then print my pictures on hot press art paper, which has enough of a tooth to allow me to draw on my photos with Prisma-color colored pencils. I spend hours finding the energy in each work and magnifying it with more color. I present them to you like overripe fruit on silver platters. Your eyes salivate and tears roll from the end of your tongue as you lick in each and every flavor.

... a continuation of the concerned collision, with curiosity, composition, and color.

Unpublished faces and facets of the Freddy Gray protests that gripped Baltimore City.

I spend a good part of my time observing people, listening with my eyes and engaging in street photography while capturing moments that tell a story.

My intention with this group of photos is to draw the viewer in with questions and curiosities regarding what happened/ has been happening. I want to contribute to the dialogue. The majority of people I've talked to are quite polarized in their opinions. I want to show ALL the contributing factors that surrounded the protests. From angry frustrated people that fight for change to those that fall into the spotlight. From those that demand the convenience of blind obedience, to the ones who exploit the drama for dramas sake. It's important me to showcase the peaceful protestors as well as acknowledge those who acted out with violence. This is an excerpt from a large group of photographs that I shot in April of 2015. My goal is to show that this was more than a bunch of "thug" protesters. It is a community of individuals. I want to also show the people trying to do their job during a difficult time. There is nothing easy about this situation or how people chose to interact with each other. Likewise it will be difficult to make change on a grand scale. That being said, I can't think of anything more important AND rewarding to work toward.

cont. from Shades of Gray, part 1... Part of the turning point in how police treat people of color. People reacting to the disproportionate abuse of blacks during police interactions.

When inanimate objects seem to wake.

Simple landscapes read like symbols from a Chinese calligrapher's notebook. Gentle dancing marks highlight each page with a narrative of warriors who've stood in defense of kingdoms long ago lost. Like tombstones in a graveyard, a reminder to future generations OR a road sign for the present to demand change from the norm? All in the eye of the beholden.

This group of photos includes landscape photos taken in California, Maryland and Missouri.

In this ongoing series I relentlessly seek out what's been missed. Like a field worker in one of Van Gogh's paintings, I glean the horizon for seeds. Each one I find nourishes the community, reminding all, that there's ALWAYS more to be seen, and connections to be made.

Wind caress the landscape, stirring what lies in its path, indiscriminate, almost effortless. Sand and snow become a mixture of milk foam and coffee. The cold becomes warm as I'm walking on cappuccino.

A mark of something that was. Leftover. Past tense. Unintended mark. Sometimes life doesn't add up to one's hopes. One ALWAYS leaves something behind. There is beauty in this. At the VERY least, its JUST that.