Who am I?
Photographic Artist. Educator. Expedition Leader.
Full time professional photographer working from Durham, North Carolina and traveling the globe in search of the essence of places, moments, and their people.
What do I do?
I specialize in fine art photography, with a twist: I firmly believe that “beautiful” images can have a strong place within the context of “serious” fine art. When thoughtfully executed, “beauty” can be one layer of a deep, meaningful, and nuanced contemplation of life's natures.
I photograph mostly outside, often in uninhabited, wild places. I find and shoot stories about time, entropic change, metamorphosis, and intersecting life cycles of elemental forces, both inorganic and living. I am drawn to elements with mystery, that provoke awe deep within, often starting with beauty seen and unseen. These quests lead me to existential explorations which I weave into relatively "straight" photography, constructed with layered metaphors. Mankind's relationship to and impact on the scenes are omnipresent via allusion and often subtle references. Narratives telling of time and the tenacity of life are framed in the Greek concepts of both Chronos' chronological time stretching back into the past and forward into the future, and Kairos' serendipitous moments of awe and mystery that create pivotal points of opportunity for change.
These are subjects that every human faces and in which we live the context of our lives. As a teacher, I include layers to communicate through my images in visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and emotional learning modalities.
To manifest the above, I make creatively seen, carefully composed, and superbly printed photographs to share my passions and ignite feelings and thoughts within my viewers. My prints are shown at museums, galleries, other arts venues, and are enthusiastically owned by private and corporate collections alike.
Where / What Subjects?
My seeking and resultant observations are woven into a tapestry of superficially disparate, but deeply genuine connections, whether they be ice from the polar extremes, red rock to white sand deserts, dimensional stone quarries, temples lost to the jungles, decaying elegance and industries, or the American South.
How?
I springboard from my skills and experiences as a lifelong outdoorsman and student of the arts. I maximize the likelihood of being present, with unique perspectives, when favorable light is likely to highlight both rare moments and ordinary situations alike. I hike, drive 4x4s, pilot all kinds of boats, scuba dive, stand atop car roofs, rappel, dangle precariously from cranes, and take to the skies in pursuit of advantageous points-of-view to express my creative visions. Following the adage about luck arising when “opportunity meets preparedness,” I ready my artist’s tools by dancing along the edges of storms, using custom programmed weather/astronomical modeling and alerting tools, traveling to polar extremes where the “golden minutes” are extended to hours, and via just old fashioned willpower of crawling out of a sleeping bag way before the dawn or hiking back to camp well after sunset with only a headlamp or the moon to guide me. I apply these approaches successfully whether out in the back countries or in urban/rural settings.
When?
All the time! I am immersed in photography on a freelance basis; under assignment/commission for editorial/commercial work; teaching workshops, courses at universities, as a competition juror/image critiquer, and through one-on-one mentoring; leading and organizing photographic expeditions to some of the most wild, beautiful, and remote places on the planet most recently Iceland, Cuba, the American Southwest, and the Southeastern United States.
Why?
Because I cannot resist the irrepressible calls to photograph!
For more information on acquiring my work, hiring me for assignments or teaching, or to just say hello, feel free to get in touch.
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