I have always lagged behind others to look at the view: flowers, landscape, buildings, everyday objects.  To see that detail, I fill my visual frame with the object, much like a child holds a flower a few inches away.My vision continues to evolve as I learn to apply my developing visual language.  I’ve been increasingly drawn to creating delicate landscapes with the flowers I see.  And, when working on flowers, I find myself trying to discern answers to compositional challenges and opportunities I encounter. I spend as much time as possible with a flower throughout its bloom cycle. Each day it offers something new. I aim for what Buddhists call practicing beginner’s mind; always practicing.  The trick is in coaxing the secrets out. I feel lucky when my work reveals one of those gems. Because I am taking between 20 and 100 exposures in sequence, it is a slow, meditative process.Each of these images is a culmination of working through particular problems presented by the subjects. The images are meant to show in the 40x60 inch range.  My best work compels a second look, the very best challenges us to contemplate our own insignificance simply by attending to the perfection of a simple natural wonder.  Incredible shapes, patterns, textures, colors abound, reflecting a complexity and mystery that mirrors our own.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, raised in Rhode Island, I stayed in the east through college. There I majored in Philosophy, studying Hegel and Wittgenstein, both western philosophers steeped in eastern religion.  I also took courses on Buddhism, Taoism and Chinese Painting. I then spent over 35 years in Seattle, with international travel regularly to Southeast Asia. I retired in 2018, when my wife and I moved to Philadelphia for her new job. Since then, photography, and particularly botanical photography, has been my focus.My images have been in two black and white and ten color juried exhibitions around the country, including being featured in two LensCulture Competition Galleries. Internationally, my work received an Honorable Mention in the 2021 has shown in the Toyko International Foto Festival.  I also have work in private collections around the United States.

Professional roles: Photographer

Location: United States