About

I’ve been a photographer since 1966.

I do black and white photography in the traditional way. That is; exposure, development, print and process. I also do color photography on transparency film and have it printed digitally. I like the way film responds to light and a black and white print on fiber paper has its own unique qualities. The tonal values, depth of detail and overall quality are beautiful to me.

And the very nature of the traditional photographic process has taught me to look at and to feel things in a way that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise.

I believe everything tells its own story with its own energy and expression. And I try not to interfere with that way of being. But sometimes, I do try and show what I perceive and feel the subject itself is presenting. And often I do this through film exposure and printing technique.

In my work as a photographer, I’ve been influenced by the California West Coast tradition, which focuses on depicting “the essence of the thing itself” (Edward Weston). This Modernist approach seeks to capture life energy as thingness, and this abiding interest is expressed in much of my work.

I admire the work of Edward Weston because he photographed things straight on without altering the reality he observed.

And Harry Callahan for photographing his life.

Masahisa Fukase’s ‘A Solitude of Ravens’ is a brilliant meditation on sorrow, solitude and death.

Michiko Kon’s, very interesting ‘Still Lifes’ are about life and death.

And Brett Weston’s singular image of a magnolia bud, taken when he was 15 yrs. old, is the finest image of a flower I’ve ever seen.

Maseo Yamamoto’s work is a delicate and immediate meditation.

Primarily though, the Divine Image Art of Adi Da Samraj takes me beyond myself like no other. When I Iook at His work I see true beauty that touches a deep sense of peace, happiness and inspiration in me. ( see Daplastique.com )

Also, read ‘The Rebirth of Sacred Art, Reflections on the Aperspectival Geometric Art of Adi Da Samraj’, by Gary Coates with ‘The Maze of Ecstasy’ by Adi Da Samraj.

PRINTS

All of my images are made directly from the original b-w negatives and in some cases color transparencies. I also have a few that are made on my mobile phone.

I make my own black and white traditional prints up to 8×10 inches on exhibition grade fiber paper and process them to current archival standards. I also offer some larger images as archival giclee prints on photo rag paper.

My process: I develop film in Pyrocat hd. I print on Bergger and occasionally Ilford variable contrast paper and process in Versaprint II with a two bath fix, HCA, Selenium tone and wash (being careful not to over wash) in my archival washer. Then air dry on screens. My method is fairly basic and I generally stick to this routine on everything.

Transparencies are drum scanned and giclee printed on archival photo rag paper with a satin or pearl finish.

I sell my prints not mounted. There are a few good archival methods of mounting and matting for conservation purposes so I leave it up to my clients to make their own choices. However, I will offer this advice. If you want to have your picture framed then I suggest dry mounting the image on quality mat board like Bainbridge Art Care using archival dry mount tissue. Using conservation grade Plexiglas or museum quality glass should block out at least 99% of the UV rays. For further discussion on archival preservation of photographs go to Wilhelm-research.com and Lodima.org.

The traditional black and white printing (enlarging) process is not an exact one. Although, a good printer can get fairly consistent results from a negative, especially when printing a ‘run’. But the hand made process is not mechanical and I think that is a good part of its beauty. So there can be subtle differences in my work from print to print. Also, I may decide to change the way I print a negative from time to time. And I like it this way. So it’s for this reason that I do not do limited editions on singular images. Also, I don’t accept the ‘photographic market’ telling me to do limited editions just so galleries can make more money.

Although, I will from time to time offer selected works in a series as a portfolio in a limited edition. And also the same for digital prints as it’s a machine process.

Traditional archival prints:

From original black/white negatives:

Up to 8×10 in. $500.

Archival giclee prints:

From negatives, transparencies and in a few images, my phone: Color or black/white, satin or pearl finish:

8×10 to 20×20 in. $400. to 1200.