My love for Nature and Landscape Photography was born in the spring of 1990 on a trip to Zion National Park in Utah. With rented 35mm film camera gear and little knowledge of how to use it, I was able to capture a few really nice images. More important than the images was the joy I felt capturing them.
I was so moved by my experience that I decided to take photography classes at a local community college. I also built my own in-home black and white darkroom. In addition, I started doing free-lance commercial work, events, portraits, and weddings. I found the free-lance work to be satisfying to some degree but nothing like the satisfaction and enjoyment I felt when out in Nature. After a few years I stopped actively marketing my free-lance skills, but I continued shooting Nature and Landscape photographs, and loving it.
In 1998 I decided to start marketing my work at local Arts and Crafts Festivals. My first show, the fall Tempe Festival of the Arts in Tempe, Arizona, was not great as far as sales were concerned, but doing the show, meeting people, and having them appreciate my work inspired me to do more.
Photo from the top of Sunrise Peak in the McDowell Mountains
I also realized I needed to do my own matting and framing, so I rented some inexpensive office space and put together a small mat and frame shop. Over the next ten years I did 12-14 shows a year (October through March) in the greater Phoenix and Tucson areas. By 2005 annual sales had grown dramatically and I was realizing a decent profit.
When the economic recession hit starting in 2008, like so many other artists I began feeling the effect. I made the decision to stop doing shows and pursue another career. For the next few years I did some local shooting, primarily in the spring. In early 2013, itching to do more serious work, I made the switch from film to high-end digital.
I still marvel at and feel a deep connection with the work of Mother Nature, whether it's a delicate cactus blossom or the way light plays on a landscape. There's a lot of photography still inside of me, so stay tuned!
My work encompasses the Western United States with a focus on Arizona and Colorado. My work is a mix of scenic landscapes and close-up work of flowers, blossoms, and all types of flora.
I've had my work published in Arizona Highways calendars (2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007). I’ve also had two images published in the fall 2006 issue of Nature's Best magazine, both of which received a "Highly Honored" distinction in the Nature's Best 2006 International Photography Awards.
When it comes to my work I'm a perfectionist and my own worst critic. That's one of the reasons I made the move from 35mm cameras to a 4x5 large format camera. Images shot on 4x5 film can be enlarged to print sizes of 40x50 and larger with little or no loss of edge detail. If you've seen work like this before you know how stunning the prints are.
Now that I'm shooting exclusively high-end digital, I can achieve good results with large landscape prints by shooting multiple frames and stitching them together in PhotoShop. However, the end product is still not as sharp and well-defined as images shot on 4x5 film and scanned to file sizes of 300mb or larger.
My standard "go to" printing material of choice for many years has been 60-year archival Fujiflex Crystal Archive (sometimes referred to as "polyflex"). Fujiflex is a high-gloss, polyester-based material which produces rich colors, pure whites, and razor-sharp edge detail.
Prices that appear on the website are for Fujiflex Crystal Archive or paper-based Fuji Crystal Archive prints, depending on what I have in stock.
All my prints and finished work come with a signed Certificate of Authenticity.
All my prints are numbered and all prints 11x14 and larger are limited edition.
I started shooting a 35mm Nikon FM2 film camera back in 1990. Several years later I purchased a 35mm Nikon N8008 film camera as a second camera.
In the late 1990's I decided to make the jump from 35mm to 4x5 large format, so I purchased a K.B. Canham DLC45 and four Rodenstock lenses (90mm, 120mm macro, 150mm, 210mm) which I shot exclusively for about 10 years.
I bought my first digital camera, a Canon G10, in 2010. In 2013 I purchased a 36-megapixel Nikon D800E digital camera and two Nikon lenses (50mm and 70-300mm) to complement my existing 28-105mm Nikon lens which I had been using with my film cameras for many years. Not long afterwards I purchased Nikon 16-35mm and 200mm macro lenses.
I also have a Nikon 300-500mm lens which I occasionally use when shooting wildlife.
Even though all state-of-the-art digital cameras now use image stabilization (vibration reduction), I still shoot every image with a sturdy tripod. This is especially important for me because when shooting close-ups I'm often using long exposures (1/4 second, 1/2 second) and small apertures in order to get more depth of field.
Sometimes I use a portable, collapsible light diffuser (3-4 feet in diameter) when doing close-up work to reduce contrast.
How an image is cropped is a key factor in how it's perceived by the viewer. I crop all my images to achieve maximum visual impact by eliminating anything that detracts from the main subject, and by using just the right amount of negative space to achieve a good composition. Having said that, I still make every effort to crop images to a standard print size (8x10, 8x12, 11x14, 16x20, etc.), but sometimes that's not possible.
For that reason, if you browse the image galleries you'll see that images appear in quite a few different sizes.
Images that are proportional to a standard size are noted in the image Description (located in the image information box just below the image title) with the verbiage "exact 2x3 crop," "exact 2x5 crop," "exact 3x4 crop," or "exact 4x5 crop" (see below). Images that are not noted this way are not proportional to any standard size.
If you purchase a print and you plan on having it matted and/or framed, or if you need an image to be an exact size, how the image is cropped is an important consideration. Let's say you purchase an 8x10 print. The dimensions of the paper on which that image is printed is exactly 8x10, but the printed image might not full-bleed to all four edges of the paper depending on how the image is cropped. If the image is noted as "exact 4x5 crop" the image will full-bleed and cover 100% of the 8x10 paper. If not, the image will have thin white borders on two opposing sides. This is not a problem if you have the image custom-matted and/or framed, but if you purchase a standard size pre-cut mat and/or a standard size frame so you can frame it yourself, then the white borders will show.
Also, please note that only some standard sizes are proportional to each other. For example, an 8x10 is proportional to a 16x20, a 24x30, and a 40x50, but is not proportional to an 11x14, a 20x24, a 20x30, or a 30x40. This means that an image that fits perfectly onto an 8x10 sheet of photo paper (exact 4x5 crop) will not fit perfectly onto an 11x14, a 20x24, a 20x30, or a 30x40 and thin white borders will show on two opposing sides.
- 8x10 print size
- exact 4x5 crop
- 11x14 print size
- white borders
Finally, keep in mind that if you absolutely must have a certain image full-bleed to a standard size, I might be able to adjust the crop to accommodate your needs.
If any of this seems too confusing, get in touch with me through my Contact page and I'll help you sort it all out!
For framing/finishing questions and pricing please get in touch with me via my Contact page.
Matted Prints
I no longer offer custom matted prints. However, I do have an inventory of selected 8x10 prints double-matted with acid-free mats to 11x14, pressure-mounted on acid-neutral 3/16-inch foam board, sealed in a plastic sleeve, all with a Certificate of Authenticity affixed to the back.
Laminated Prints
Laminated prints are frameless, pressure-mounted on 1/2-inch gator board or 1/4-inch masonite, finished with a lustre (low-gloss) protective laminate with UV protection, and have a museum back affixed to the back of the mounting board which makes the finished piece appear to float out from the wall.
Gallery Wraps
Gallery wraps are frameless, giclee (inkjet) prints on canvas stretched over a sturdy wooden frame where the printed image wraps around the frame edge, and sealed with a UV spray protective laminate.
Other Finishing Options
With advances in fine art printing over the past 15 years, other high-quality finishing options are available. Metal prints (like ChromaLuxe® and Dibond®), where an image is printed directly to a metal panel (usually aluminum) are lightweight, of superior quality, and easy to clean. Acrylic prints, where a printed image is affixed to the back of clear acrylic are another high-quality option.
In order to help you determine the correct size piece for your wall space I do no-obligation proportional computer mockups.
A computer mockup is a small computer drawing, which I do on the computer, drawn to scale, based on your wall space dimensions and the particular image or images you're interested in. Because the mockup is proportional it gives both of us a great visual on how a particular size image will look in your wall space, before you purchase.
When I've completed the mockup I send it to you via e-mail so you can view it on your computer screen. If you view the mockup and tell me the size isn't right, I do another mockup with a different size, or several mockups with various sizes, until we find the right size image for your wall space.