Journal Sketches

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Since early childhood, I’ve been fascinated with the historic journals of explorers and naturalists. In the days before cameras became portable and easy to use, these journals were often illustrated with exquisitely drawn engravings or illustrations sketched in pencil, ink, or charcoal. My camera today is in some ways my sketchpad as I explore. I often make photographs not for public display but, as George Santayana put it, “to come to the succour of my weak memory and visual imagination, and to tell me how things look.” It occurred to me that I can render some of these photographs in the style of my beloved old sketches, adding a sense of romance and timelessness to my visual mementos.