I have been taking photographs for close to 30 years now. It’s been an on-again, off-again proposition. Mostly owing to the fear of the “starving artist” image that always presented itself to my mind’s eye. So, while my love of photography has grown, as has my abilities, it is only recently that I endeavor to make a place for myself in the art world. And photography truly is an art. It is a means to capture and express my reactions to this planet on which we live. A means to leave something behind of value to those who come after me. Perhaps it will be an image of a lake that will someday soon be gone, or an empty meadow, no longer in existence because of an ever-expanding suburbia. Or, hopefully, it will be the protected wilderness which is, in its quiet repose, so awe-inspiring. Landscape photography feeds my soul as nothing else can. The emotions during a day of shooting can range from quiet introspection to a gut-wrenching terror of the unknown vastness ahead.
“For beauty is nothing
but the beginning of terror, which we still are just able to endure,
and we are so awed because it serenely disdains to annihilate us.
Every angel is terrifying.”
Rainer Maria Rilke
Each part of the process in photography has its rewards. From choosing the location, deciding black and white or color film, to the sound of the shutter in my ancient camera, through editing and finally the printing. It all means as much as the finished product. And the finished product, what is it? A piece of this country. The small, lesser known places, that still offer beauty, serenity and a clear understanding of how small each human is, with our short little bursts of genius and hopes of immortality.
I like quiet pictures, photos with space. I like the raw beauty, natural lines, curves and relentlessness of the natural landscape; And images where man may have intruded once upon a time but who’s influence is ebbing, leaving nature to eventually reclaim what was always hers. Seeing the rusting metal, peeling paint and rotting wood are a reminder to me of the fact that we are part of nature, not separate from it, not above it and not in opposition to it. I now wish to share what I’ve seen and felt.
As with any artist, sometimes I hit the mark, sometimes I don’t. But it is the desire to know myself better and join with this natural world more and more that continues to motivate me.
“Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how.
The moment you know how, you begin to die a little.
The artist never entirely knows. We guess.
We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.”
Agnes De Mille
And so I leap.
