“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.”
— Dorthea Lange
What draws me to photography is the ability to create art that conveys an idea and sometimes tells a story. It can capture the plight of the homeless, the work of our immigrant neighbors who grow our food, the extraordinary complexity and scale of the manufactured landscapes that surround us, or the simple beauty and freedom of riding an ocean wave. The common thread is using light to transfer an idea to a photo and capture it for eternity.
This is very different than what I’ve done for the past forty-five years as an international businessman, sometimes in pursuit of profit, sometimes in pursuit of free and open societies. I worked in the United States, Western and Central Europe, Russia from its western border to the Pacific, Africa and parts of Asia. I traveled the world, and saw some of it — but mostly I saw the insides of offices, restaurants, banks and airplanes. On vacations I took photographs, but didn’t know what made the good ones good.
About 7 years ago I had enough of this life. I felt a need to reinvent myself, and settled by the beach in California with a good deal of time to think about what I wanted to do. Near the top of the list was to learn how to make art and take quality pictures that tell stories.
This website presents first efforts. I look forward to hearing what you think.