The Muse And The Four Shamisen Players Photograph - Limited Edition of 1

I explore how photography is merged and integrated into other photographs or other mediums. I am an artist by nature and create through photography by choice. My work is a multi-step process. It always starts with the photograph I have taken, either digital or film. I explore outside the boundaries of traditional photography, I say something through it with a combination of images and the manipulation of images. The idea comes from the image. Many photo montage artists start with the idea then take the pictures, I start with the pictures. If composited, I gather images to create the idea. Some images will stay in digital form for archival printing. Some images will move into a further process of Mixed media. If mixed media, the print or prints are affixed on a surface and then I work it. It could be paint, charcoal, sandpaper, plexiglass or digital film transfers. When the piece is complete it is finished with a coat of fused wax or multiple coats of varnish, and then re-photographed for archival printing.