"Nobody who ever became an Artist has ever wanted to limit their choices"

== michael-leonard

Why “flexible fotography”?

When I first began in photography – can it be over FIFty years ago?! – there were many divisions within the world of photography that I found to be artificial: a landscape photographer couldn't be a commercial photographer; a commercial photographer couldn't do Fine Art photography; an Art photographer couldn't also be an industrial photographer; portrait photography couldn't be commercial ... and so on. So, I developed the artistic concept of flexible fotography in order to blur and, eventually, break down these bogus boundaries between various photographic specialties. After all, nobody becomes an artist to limit his choices!

I soon realized that I didn't want to spend a lot of time in a studio environment trying to re-create the outside world, when the outside world was ... out there. So, I developed myself as an "On Location Specialist." The idea was to be sort of a street photographer: very mobile but with more planning; call it commando or guerrilla photography. of course, the fact that i came to photography in the 60s might have some bearing on this. from travel, landscape and scenic picture-making to special event photojournalism and people photography, i have tried to be the ultimate photographic generalist.

I also developed the idea of a Photographic Philosophy, rather than a photographic "style". Trying to develop "a style" always seemed to me rather artificial and formulaic; I want my work to go way beyond mere style. . My Photographic Philosophy has developed and morphed over the years and serves as the tether between the different specialties. Using LIGHT as a physical thing, natural elements whenever possible (even in commercial images), precise composition, and lots of color are hallmarks of my Photographic Philosophy.

My goal in presenting the images posted here is to represent the photo as best as I can, not necessarily to exactly reproduce what I, or the camera, saw. this doesn’t mean i want an unrealistic image; my own rule is to only do things I could do in a traditional darkroom. except for erasing an unwanted object; that I will do. but no HDR, “Photoshopping,” or other common digital tricks.

** please go to the ALBUMS section to see the breadth of flexible fotography; the photos in each album are arranged as a "slide show" (speaking of that, ALL the images here are scanned from actual slides(!). i've included images in more than one album when applicable so you don't hafta jump around.

I hope you enjoy these images as much as I love making them.