Photographing Color and Composition in the Palouse Region of Washington

Springtime and Summer Harvest brings color to The Palouse, an outstandingly photogenic region crossing the borders of Eastern Washington and Idaho. I travel there each Spring and Summer for my Palouse photography workshops when varied hues of wheat, canola and legumes blanket the vast rolling landscape. Ribbons of rural roads and tractor trails add leading lines to the patchwork quilt of this agricultural gem. Dazzling blue skies and vast open spaces set the stage for … more >>

The Creative Photographer: The Story of ‘The Haunted Tree’

The Haunted Tree

The Haunted Tree is my most published and collected photograph to date. It has evoked various responses from viewers and curators who have described it using adjectives including  ‘dreamy’, ‘mysterious’, ‘foreboding’, ‘cinematic’, ‘poetic’, ‘confrontational’, ‘powerful’, ‘spiritual’…and the list goes on. Haunted Tree is also my most plagiarized and ‘borrowed’ image to date. I enjoy knowing it feeds the thought of others, even though I find it online being used for heavy metal band merchandise, to accompany … more >>

My June photography workshop: “Imagination Vision and Voice”

I love to teach workshops in beautiful locations, and none are finer than the coast of Maine. This summer I return for my seventh year to Maine Media Workshops. I’ll teach a workshop called “Imagination Vision and Voice”. Last year this workshop was very well received, and I was fortunate to have a great group of students at all levels or experience. We have a helluva lot of fun too!  

Shooting For the Love of Design

When making photographs, I love to use strong design to compose the graphic elements within the viewfinder. My experience as a graphic designer and art director has influenced how I see the world, and how I compose the rectangle of every image. One particularly memorable weekend taught me a lot about designing within the frame. Back in the mid-80’s one of my co-workers invited me to join him for a road trip to the Hershey … more >>

Next workshop: Santa Fe Workshops in March 2012

“Creative Photography with Any Camera”  MARCH 14 – 17 :  Santa Fe, NM “Join me to capture the beauty, history, and nature in and around Santa Fe!”                   No matter what your photography experience is, this workshop will inspire and give you hands-on instruction to master camera settings, use intuition to capture the best moments, artfully compose shots, edit and organize images and create slide shows, prints and web galleries. You’ll … more >>

Get Low For a Unique Perspective

“Photographing a landscape from a low angle perspective helps me illustrate subjects in nature.” When photographing the land, I shoot traditionally and also look for a unique perspective or point of view. Low vantage points are often overlooked, and are often truly rewarding. Before getting close with my camera to capture the details, I use my body position to try various ways I might view the subject. To the causal onlooker, I must look insane with my … more >>

An Intuition for Design

“Beauty is not just in the details, but in all things observed with an intent to really see.” I’ve always been attracted to patterns, from the tiny cracks in weathered paint to the aerial graphic patterns of farmlands seen from a window seat on a plane. One fine summer day I was driving from Boston to teach my annual summer workshop at Maine Media Workshops in Rockport. Passing some smooth green fields and perfect ponds, I … more >>