“Learning by doing”. You cannot know too much about something, but you can know too little. In archaeology, I learned that you never know what you will need to be able to do, so learn everything you can about everything. In Fine Art, “Form follows function (Bauhaus) and the reverse is also true.” My basic philosophies: “Everything is grist for the mill.”, “Photography by wandering around.”, “See more, look less.”
I agree with Ansel Adams, that, “Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer – and often the supreme disappointment.”
Having earned a living over the years doing many things, I have always thought of myself as a photographer since high school. Through learning languages, it was always my intention to teach and communicate with others in order to try to understand who they are and what they do. Often though, language can be an impediment rather than a facilitator of just that communication.
In that way, I have come to realize that I think, not with words in a series like a book, but rather with ideas which are usually easier to see rather than hear, as a matrix of connected concepts. I am a 'global thinker’, and I need to grasp and internalize all the information, before I can do anything with it. I do not deal well with instructions given out piecemeal in a sequence. Visual thinking, rather than sequential verbal, suits my spirit. My goal is to let others see what I see and feel, without resorting to verbal interpretation. In that way I prefer to teach as a colleague among equals, rather than as a leader among followers.
For me, landscapes — either in the small scale of flowers and macro images, or in the wide open spaces of forests, mountains, or oceans, or even cityscapes at night—resonate in me a feeling which is very difficult to put into words. Photographs fill that need and desire to show others what I see and feel. I photograph landscapes of all sorts, not because they are easy, but because when it results in a successful image, it is very satisfying.
Adams says that there are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer. I try to open a conversation across time and space with my viewer.