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THE PHOTOGRAPHER’S STATEMENT
My love for nature began sooner than I can recall - the earliest memories are setting in a tree at five years of age staring at a beautiful creek that ran though my parents backyard. In addition, there is the memory of tears and temper tantrums when kids ran through the new, deep snowfall of our backyard, destroying the pristine textures and sculptures that I loved to look at. So you can imagine how overwhelmed I was as a freshman in high school (1976) to discover that photography could capture those serene but fragile moments in nature.
Since that time I have gone into the backcountry carrying equal weights of supplies and photography equipment. While I believe that anything close by can be beautifully photographed, it is in the remote and isolated areas of nature that cry out in purity and simplicity. Also, the act of taking the photographs can be the most rewarding part of the trip. Looking at beautiful scenery for a few minutes is refreshing, but spending an hour or two in one place studying, for example, how the clouds mimic the mountain peaks over which they hover, how one reflection looks like an hour glass and another is a real time Monet, or how the colors in fog first prism and then meld in the morning sun is a spiritual experience. If I have any nice pictures, they are still not worthy of representing the depth of beauty of the places from which they originated. It is simply as God said to Job, "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it?” and "Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, and caused the dawn to know its place…?” (Job 38:4-5, 12). May you enjoy these photographs, the fair and - the morning sun!
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