About My Nature Photography  Why Do I Photograph? Put simply, I photograph because I am driven to do so, compelled by an inner desire. This desire is perhaps first born of a love of nature and a love of life, with photography being an expression of this love. I photograph a lot of nature because I am so enamored with what I see, feel and experience in nature. Since I was a little boy I always got certain feelings - very strong and mostly "good" feelings, though some were very challenging - when I was out in nature that I didn't feel in other situations. Photography is one way for me to remember the feeling of being in beautiful and sometimes wild, untamed places unmarred by humanity's sometimes-rough touch. I remember vividly my first attempts to capture an image from such a place and being bitterly disappointed when I witnessed the result of my efforts. (Ansel Adams is perhaps the most famous photographer - among many - to share this particular sentiment.) Since then, I realized that I needed to become a better photographer, and - yep - get some better equipment! ("When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping!") When I looked at the first fruits from my efforts using a large-format camera some years ago, I was hooked. The incredible detail, realism and overall technical quality was far beyond anything I had imagined while using the much smaller 35mm format. While these results in no way replaced the act and feeling of actually being there - wherever "there" was - it made it a lot easier to "remember" what it was like to be "there". I am still frustrated in this challenge, but I just need to continue to become a better photographer - I can't really blame the results on film size anymore! Photography is a passion for me - an activity which springs from the emotional satisfaction I get from memorializing something beautiful from this world we live in, or capturing an emotion on a person's face in a moment frozen in time. Or, creating an image - which quite literally isn't there, according to the naked eye - from the raw materials of this world. (Yes, Ansel Adams said a similar thing as well long ago, but I believe it applies to all photographers. Part of the art of photography is the art of "seeing".) I suppose I began when I was "curious" about how I might capture an image, but the act of learning photography has taught me to see things in the world around me - and to see qualities and emotions in the people I meet, know and love - which I might never have seen or imagined if I hadn't become a photographer. Since becoming a photographer.... ... I began noticing how the time of day, and different seasons - and being in different parts of the world - affect the color of light, and the hue of the sky. I began to "see" in my mind's eye a variety of moods and effects while witnessing an ordinary scene or an ordinary object, literally creating a possible image in my mind (which I would later manage with photographic tools) while observing the raw materials with my eyes. ... I began acutely noticing the moods and expressions of my friends and loved ones, and desired to capture these expressions which showed the beauty of who they really were. I desired to create a feeling in photographing them which would memorialize more than a canned smile. ... I began to be more aware of the relationship between this contingent world and the unseen spiritual kingdom, and to more keenly appreciate the reflection of the Divine in the world of creation. What Equipment Do I Use? For sheer image quality, and the ability to enlarge while retaining quality, my favorite has been, and probably always will be, large format film. Imagine the best, clearest, most true-to-life image you've seen taken with a 35mm camera, then enlarge and multiply the concept 16 to 20 times - that's 4x5 inch large format. While it's true that the sharpest 35mm lenses have greater resolving power for the same film coverage area (i.e. a 24x36mm image/film area exposed by a high quality 80mm prime lens on a "35mm" camera will reveal more image detail than the same exact 24x36mm image/film area exposed onto a 4x5 inch sheet of identical film emulsion with a lens designed to cover 4x5 with an 80mm focal length), the ultimate ability to recover and resolve image detail with a medium or large format camera system is undisputably much greater than 35mm. When capturing detailed landscapes, re-creating a live atmosphere and/or large printing, there is no substitute for large format. However, large format photography is entirely unsuitable for some types of photography, and cumbersome, impractical and not cost-effective in many cases (at roughly $5 per frame for film and processing). And, unless you're printing large, it's simply unnecessary - you can get similar or identical results with medium format [or current digital devices -- more on that later]. Medium format (essentially, any format that uses 6cm wide roll film (i.e. 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7, 6x8, and 6x9) gives the photographer a suitable degree of flexibility and control - and a more moderate degree of expense - while generally improving on 35mm quality and enlargeability by a factor of 3 to 6. Medium format has traditionally been the professional standard for high-quality portraiture and general photography, though even that is being overtaken by the digital standard now. 35mm film photography - done right - can produce gorgeous photographs up to "art book" size and quality, and still proves to be an indispensable tool for all types of photography, especially candid or casual portraiture, some close-up (macro) photography, sports, and "artistic" photographs not necessarily dependent on finely-grained or highly-detailed images, or purposed for large printing. Black and White 35mm photography, in particular, seems to hold its own very well against the larger formats. What about digital? Most of the floral images on this site have been produced with professional digital SLR equipment, while most of the landscape photographs have been produced with large format film. A few in both categories have been produced using medium format. Recently, the advances in SLR Digital have rendered film photography almost obsolete. Cameras such as the Nikon D2X have brought digital into the rarified arena of fine art photography, and all of my fine art portraiture is now photographed and processed in the digital domain, with no apologies, and no compromises of any technical or artistic nature, compared to film. Ultimately, a photographer's choice of equipment is really of secondary importance, as long as the particular tool used is sufficient for the purposed application. Much more important is the image that is produced, and the emotion that image provokes! Let's Talk! I love talking, chatting, and sharing information with other photographers. I have never interacted with another photographer - at any skill level - and not been enriched by new knowledge and insight. (Besides, it's fun!) If you'd like to exchange information, have suggestions or comments about this site, or just want to chat about our mutual passion, email me! For information on my printed products and ordering, please visit my Ordering Information Page.