May 23, 2003, 12:43:52 pm - Near Coba, Quintana Roo, Mexico

This image has been sitting in my archives for 16 years never realizing its potential. I tried several version of cropping and levels of colors from its true colors to traces of color. I felt the black and white provided the best choice for focusing on the young girl's faces and hands. Color was too distracting. I like to closeness and nurturing nature of the image.

September 18, 2018, 12:14:35 pm - Santa Cruz Mountains, California

I am very critical of landscape photography as fine art. Landscapes have been overly done and often cliches, offering little in a new perspective. Most landscapes images are about aesthetics as defined as an appreciation of beauty and often lack emotional interest other than just another pretty picture. My approach to this image was to create an ethereal and mystical scene that was not there at the moment of capture. The color palette was intended to create an older look adding to its mystery. 

May 27, 2003, 9:20:11 am - Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Mexican churches are a visual display of colors, textures, forms, mixed with religious figures. This image includes all of those elements plus more due to the window reflection, adding chaos and confusion to this holiest of all Christian symbols. Religion is mysterious as is the feeling I get with this image. 

May 28, 2003, 7:35:46 am - Maya Riviera, Mexico

I'm fascinated by Mexico's landscapes and plants, even in and around hotels. Banana plants are common and provide an array of perspectives. This image reminds me of large feathers. Color has been replaced with duotones to help create a stronger sense of luminosity and tones and a departure from the reality of the scene. 

November 2, 2018, 8:06:10 pm - Mission District, San Francisco

It's Dia de Los Muertos in San Francisco's Mission District. Much of the true spirit of the annual event is found in and around Garfield Square where dozens of memorials are setup. Most identify the two-day event with Mexico but is celebrated throughout Latin countries which honor their departed ancestors. Elaborate altars are erected around town squares offering food, drinks, photos, and memorabilia. 

December 11, 2004, 4:15:47 pm - Stanford, California

Only because of the ethereal nature of this image is why I posted it. Otherwise, I tend to be a critic of infrared photography which, I believe, has been overly done. In many IR works all I see is the technique and not the art. However, infrared images, especially of inanimate objects, can work quite well. Light tends to soften creating, sometimes, a surreal effect. This is another image from Stanford University's Cactus Garden. 

December 11, 2004, 3:54:31 pm - Stanford, California

Another image from Stanford University's Cactus Garden, a place I continue to return to. The macabre nature of the image also offers a range of metaphors, such as dominance. And yet, there is a sense of beauty. It's this contradiction that I find most interesting about this image. 

December 12, 2008, 12:42:12 pm - New Idria, California

A strange little town of only a few families, New Idria made EPA's National Priority List due to its former mercury mining operation, second largest in the country at one time. Several abandoned building still stands today. This image was once a school room which typifies the lonely nature of the place. I also enjoy the numerous geometric lines throughout the image.

March 25, 2002, 10:57:44 am - Vietnam

I recently hung this image in my dining room as a reminder of Vietnam and how rules should not always be followed. Early on, one is taught to avoid centering objects in a composition. Most rules are simply a starting point and novices should be aware of them. But the key is to know when to break them. I like the notion of partial symmetry.  The tree provides two unique spaces, creating a diptych within the single image. The colors are typically Vietnamese. 

March 18, 2002, 7:43:12 am - Hoi An, Vietnam

I returned to Hoi An two additional times, the last visit was 2017. Much has changed since this picture was taken. The UNESCO site has become one of the most visited towns in Vietnam and now caters to a growing tourist trade. Many of the old homes are unrecognizable, now hidden by hoards of merchandise for tourist. I was fortunate to have captured the two sisters in the early morning. They and their home represents the Vietnam I remembered in my early travels to this wonderful and friendly country.