Impressions and ideas could cover a lot of my work. However, there are photos that are clearly outside the scope of any other category. Impressions mean just that – an impression rather than a statement. Perspective is everything in photography. I love taking of photo of the common things in a different way. It keeps me amused and excited as I experiment with ideas, form and light.
I love the process of taking photos of people. I see them as gifts and try to honor them as such. “We”, being the human race as a whole, fascinate me. People all over the world relate enthusiastically and with respect if they are approached with respect and honesty. I have gained many friends over the years by talking with people, learning about them, sending them photos that I’ve taken of them, and sharing something about me. I’m equally fascinated about how people relate to other animate and inanimate things.
I definitely do not see myself as a land- or seascape photographer but while I’m doing other things, land- and seascape drama of all kinds pops up which I can’t pass up but do want to pass alone. Landscapes, vistas, national and state parks and forests, rivers, oceans, mountains with vegetation of all kinds. The US is filled with protected and unprotected areas of beauty. We all love to be in nature and to find ways to photograph or paint those areas of beauty. Every other country has followed our lead in protecting areas so that generations can enjoy them. Our National parks, forests, monuments recreation areas, Fish and Wildlife areas are managed by a group of superbly talented and dedicated people. I can’t imagine not being able to have these areas available for generations.
I often convert a photograph into black and white or take it as black and white The determining factor is whether or not color interferes with form and balance. Often the same photograph looks equally good both in color or black and white, each conveying a completely different mood or idea.
I have been fortunate to have traveled extensively, to both ends of the earth and much in-between. Being able to observe and learn from animal behavior has taught me a lot. How a wild stallion manages and protects his band of offspring and mares by balancing play, protection and punishment; how that same band raises each young one together as part of a community; how goodbyes are managed between an aging lion and his head lioness are heart-rendering and beautiful; how some of the seabird couples who mate for life, meet on the same rock each year after being apart most of a year, is mind-boggling. I have been given a true gift by the fact that animals have allowed me to observe and photograph them.
I read many research articles about causes and impact of violence while working in the NYC criminal justice system. One such article is called “Animals At Play” in the National Geographic Magazine. I thought this would be a fun article and, as all National Geographic magazines, the photos were terrific. About a third of the way through the article, it switched gears to talk about the research on serial and other very violent killers. HUMMMMM. The point it made was that animals do play in ways that have nothing at all to do with survival as we had previously defined such. Researchers of violent criminals found they were were never taught/allowed to learn how to play. The act of playing appears to allow all creatures a chance to develop creativity, which teaches, in fact, problem-solving skills. The more one (human or animal) develops a repertoire of creative problem-solving skills, the more both can comfortably thrive or at least manage well in stressful situations.
Documentary photography, or photojournalism, is a time-honored manner of telling a pictorial story. This first story is about a small town on the PRCA circuit on the Colorado/ Wyoming border, Grover, CO. During the rodeo season, this town grows in size and energy as cowboys and girls, ranchers, livestock, and all manner of supporters come to view the battles between man and animal. During this particular rodeo, all the rodeo personnel and performers wore pink shirts to support two of their own suffering from breast cancer.
As a young girl and teenager, I rode in barrel races in local and state fairs on my horse, Rosie. It taught me a lot about myself and about care and treatment of animal friends!
Each community where we live throughout the world has a culture and energy unique to it. Buildings, architecture, layouts, places that people go for work, play, or living space say a lot about what is important to those who live there. Some places are almost gone; some a over the top with energy and life. Each is important in its own way to the people who live and work there as well as to the rest of us – since we are all connected.
I love the geometry of cities, the cityscapes they form, the patterns that emerge, of course, and the interaction that humans have with each city.
