Photography lifts the veil of the ordinary and provides a window into the extraordinary -- malibugrif

Photographs Are Not Art ,

said the man at the art exhibition when I asked where the photographs might be. He went on to explain that the exhibiting artists took particular efforts to make certain that they chose the right perspective, they used the right color, that they selected exactly the right brush to capture the image in front of them. A real artist doesn't concern himself with pushing a button then walking on.

I heard that speech as a young man and it angered me... photography is my art. My camera is my brush and all of the compositional elements that go into a painting find their way into my best shots.

My interested in photography started at a very young age, when my father built his own darkroom where I learned to develop and print black and whites. The process of watching light and chemicals transform seemingly blank paper into an object that people desired to hang in their homes has never left me and continues to drive me as I work in my modern x64 Lightroom (which is much easier on my skin).

My first real camera was a Nikon FM, purchased new. I dragged that camera across seas and up mountains and it never once failed me. As a result of which I've been sold on Nikon quality. I currently shoot with a Nikon D7000 and have my eye on an D800.

There's a gap of many years in my creative photographs as my camera turned inward toward my son and family. Now that he's grown, I have time to once again explore my passion...my art.