I have been in the professional graphic design and advertising business for over 30 years, as an art director, graphic designer and creative director. What I’ve always known all these years is that I truly love photography. I have worked with many excellent and gifted photographers creating thousands of marvelous images for a variety of clients, but always striving, when appropriate, to transcend commercial photography and taking the work to a higher level. Of
course that didn’t always happen, which is the pesky thing about working with advertising clients.

Left to my own devices though, I can acheive my vision my way. My skills in graphic design and the graphic arts enable me to enhance that vision to a point where the viewer is drawn in to share my view. I imbue the images I capture with clarity and style that enhances the reality of the subjects by inviting the viewer to see not only incredible detail, but also the overall grace of the subject as the observer steps back.

As some of nature’s most varied and quietly spectacular output, flowers, as well as other perhaps more mundane, but no less interesting, bits of the plant world, provide endless detail and visual intrigue. The closer I get, the more amazed I am. I’m constantly surprised at the unexpected—be it the point of view or the specimen itself. As with most natural photography, this is more discovery than invention.  Focusing on relatively small subjects, in extreme close up, reveals incredible details. Some of these revelations are surprising if not downright astonishing. Many seem foreign, even other-worldly. Nature at this level can be truly spectacular.

I try to capture and convey more than just botanical minutiae; I also appreciate the graphic form and structure. Gesture and a sense of motion are also qualities that I very often find, which can give the subject some personality, attitude, and most of all character. They are more akin to portraiture than still life.

Aging gracefully is a recurring theme in many of these images as well. The perfect flower, in all its perky glamor and exhibitionism, is stunning. However, a flower or some other bit of flora past its prime, is yet another state of grace. The elegance of decay is what intrigues me the most.

These images are captured at a very high resolution that provides not only incredible detail but astonishing color and tonal depth. The lighting is very soft and is most elegant in its simplicity and focus—that which is closest to us is both brighter and sharper. Though the process is digital, it is only a means to fully realize the final image and the print. I do not use digital effects to embellish or substantially change the image. The subject is as I captured it.

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Artist Statement

As some of nature’s most varied and quietly spectacular output, flowers provide endless detail and visual intrigue. The closer I get, the more amazed I am. With my images, I reach beyond the typical and strive for the unusual—be it the point of view or the specimen itself. As with most natural photography, this is more discovery than invention.

Aging gracefully is a recurring theme in many of these images as well. The perfect flower, in all its perky glamour and exhibitionism, is a stunning thing, yet a flower past its prime is another state of grace. The elegance of decay is what intrigues me most.

This work could be described as portraiture. The simple lighting, the singular subject, and featureless background support this notion, but there has to be more to it than that. Not unlike a good portrait, I want the image to communicate….give you something that is much more than a nicely composed pictorial record. I won’t presume to tell you what your response should be. That, hopefully, will be your discovery.

Editioned, signed prints are available in several sizes up to 60 inches or larger.