3 Trees, South Strafford, VT, 1981 Photograph

I’ve been making archival, carefully crafted fine art photographs in Vermont and New Hampshire for over 30 years. Through this period I’ve worked with a view camera and 4 x 5 inch film, medium format, in my own darkroom, and now I’m finding that with pigment-ink prints on fine art paper I’m getting (after long days) prints that surpass what I was able to pull after long sessions in the darkroom. Although good technique and equipment may be important in conveying a strong statement, technique is in the service of the message, a means and not an end. The point is: can an image ring us like a bell, create a resonance with the world? The visual appearance of a finished piece is more like a trick to create that impact. The technology is in the service of the emotional experience, the connection with a bigger view of the world. My images may often be of ordinary landscapes and objects. Though I have traveled as far as Nepal and made good photographs there, most of my work is done a very short distance from my house. Though ordinary, when seen deeply and well the ordinary hopefully shimmers and transforms. We see through it to something deeper and feel something.