1. How old were you when you first started photography?  What attracted you to photography as a medium?

     I bought a Kodak “Brownie” camera with money I got after my First Communion, at age 7.  ($14, if I remember correctly.) I think that I have always been a very visual person, and I found out pretty quickly that I couldn’t draw at all, so photography opened a whole universe of perception and expression.

 

2. How have your experiences shaped your view of the world?  Does this reflect in your pictures? Which pictures from this array stand out to you the most and why? What do you think makes a memorable photograph?

     I’ve led a pretty varied life, whether I needed to, or whether it just happened, I don’t really know. I think my internal landscape is pretty variable too - a lot of different thing catch my eye and interest me.  Photography for me is at least a way of preserving images, and it goes beyond that, beyond “capturing the moment”, and it becomes an artistic expression.

     Of the pictures shown, my eye goes first to Mya, the dog. She’s gone, but that picture brings her back. She was a lovely dog, and a good friend.

     The blue glass (by Chihully) is pure visual pleasure.

     The two ladies are just a pair of odd friends I saw at the Staten Island Ferry terminal. I just wondered about their lives. I took it from a distance, with a long lens, so I didn’t bother them.

     The whale’s tale is cool because it’s pretty much a brief, tiny glimpse of one of these huge, beautiful creatures, that a living a few miles offshore, pretty much unknown to us.

     The doorway in the “witch’s house” and the fountain in London were just beautiful visual moments I had that are lingering long after the actual moments have passed.

     The close-up (macro) image of the rope seemed to ring important for me - ropes had been a very important part of my life when I was out on the ocean. The close-up image speaks to the form, and the implied strength of the rope. All of the tiny strands making the bigger strands, which make the rope seemed to speak to me.

     The witch’s house was just an oddity I couldn’t drive by, and the green pasture just seemed to capture the feeling of Vermont in the summer time.

 

3. A lot of your work depicts the ocean, blown-glass sculptures, and vivid color.  What do you aim to communicate through your subjects?

     The ocean was a giant part of 7 years of my life, from about age 25 - 32. Also, it’s wild & beautiful.  Color is what brightens our lives. We are primarily visual creatures - it is our dominant sense, by far. So I enjoy color, and play with it.   

     Sometimes, it’s just visual beauty that I’m enjoying and trying to capture/preserve/communicate. Sometimes it’s emotions, or feelings - we’ve all seen a fountain in the sun, or the first snowfall, or a pasture on a nice summer day.

 

4. How much of your work is instinctual and how much of it is planned?

     Probably 50-50. If I’m going out on a whale watch, obviously, I’ll be taking pictures of whales. I went to the Museum of Fine Arts and was surprised by the Chihully glass exhibit. I went again the next day, with my camera.  Other stuff just happens, as life rolls on.

 

5. Is form or content more important to you?

     Content is primary, but the form is very important - that’s how the image will be preserved and presented.

 

6. What advice would you give to a new photographer?

     Take pictures, lots of them. Now that everything’s digital, you don’t have to pay to get photos developed. Take lots, figure out what works, what doesn’t (and why). Delete the bad ones and move on.

     Photography with your phone is fun and it’s great because you always have it with you, but a “real camera”, like a single-lens-reflex (SLR) camera can open up lots of creative possibilities.

     Read, and talk to others. Learn. Learn about tools and  techniques. Amount of light, lens aperture (opening size), and shutter speed, different lenses, flash, etc.

     Work on composition, like using  “the ⅓ rule” - ⅓ landscape or water, ⅔ sky.  Learn about depth of field, framing an image - some tree branches in front might help a landscape, puffy clouds can help define a sky, etc., etc.

     BTW, I’ve typed up an intro guide to using an SLR camera. Anyone who would like a copy should email me. There’s always lots to learn, and lots of fun to have.