This essay originally appeared in Landscape Photography Magazine. ~~~ Friedrich Nietzsche is perhaps the most prolific of Western philosophers on the topic of art. In his mind, art is a means of coping with the chaos, tragedy and imperfection that are the true nature of reality and, as such, makes life itself not only tolerable, [...]
My first “nature photography” experience occurred nearly thirty years ago, when for reasons I can’t even remember I borrowed my father’s old Minolta and went to play outside. Not a single image from that roll of film turned out, but the joy of seeking photogenic subjects and fitting them into the finder frame was intoxicating. [...]
I recently parked at a roadside pullout to retrieve a cold drink from the ice chest in the back of my truck. I turned the engine off , thinking that this will be a good place to perch on the tailgate for a bit and appreciate the beauty of the day and the place. I [...]
At a recent workshop, I expressed some of my thoughts on photography as a medium for art. I said that I considered art to be the product of creative artists. Though seemingly a simple statement, it holds an important implication: art does not exist in vacuum, nor unto itself, and it is not a random [...]
Among the small pleasures I treasure is sitting in my quiet living room in the moments before dawn with a cup of coffee, and watching the darkness slowly fade into the colorful views of red rock and high plateaus covered in aspens and conifers. This time of year, the sight of golden foliage on the [...]
For most of my life, few people would have described me as a happy person. In fact, for most of my life, I would not have thought of myself as one, either. And, in truth, it didn’t seem very important. There were times of contentment, comfort, satisfaction, pride and reward; but not true happiness. Like [...]
Some time ago, I referred to photography as a field “fraught with cognitive dissonance.” One such example, in my mind, is the strange practice of limiting print editions. Try as I might, I cannot reconcile the notion of edition limits with what to me are some of the most compelling and advantageous reasons to pursue [...]
As spring slowly awakens life in the high plateaus, I went on my first solo backpacking trip of the season. While nights at home still dip below freezing, the canyon country is already warm and welcoming. Now back at my desk I revel in the sweet fatigue that follows such excursions; remembering with vivid clarity [...]
Winters are long in this beautiful high desert. The big cottonwoods are still bare; night time temperatures still dip below freezing, and small snow storms still pass through every few days. My neighbor jokingly said that in these parts March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lion. Still, spring is in [...]
Much had been said, good and bad, about individualism. As a moral philosophy, it may lead to the best or the worst that a person can become: from hedonism to humanism and any number of other “ism”s in between. With few exceptions, though, creative artists are consummate individualists, interpreting their world and practicing their work [...]
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