My early background included 15 years in the graphic arts industry in the San Francisco Bay Area. I was a part-time advertising agency photographer but my primary employment was as a typographer, proofreader, and plant supervisor. My photography was also licensed by greeting card and art objects companies. In the late 1970’s, I entered the computer industry. I worked successively for HP and Intel Corporations in Oregon and Microsoft in the Seattle area as a Senior Technical Writer and internal software tools developer. I wrote books for HP on photographic darkroom calculations and programmable timers. I received several awards and grants at Intel including their top corporate award, the Intel Achievement Award, and also from Microsoft for technical achievements.

My primary subjects are coastal and lakeside landscapes, wetlands and shore birds, gardens, women, and specific architectural sites that are considered sacred. I use these subjects to portray the metaphysical and meditative concepts that motivate me.

The email signature quotation I have used for many years serves as a concise statement of my purpose as an artist: “Behind all these manifestations is the one radiance, which shines through all things. The function of art is to reveal this radiance through the created object.” (Attributed to Joseph Campbell). That is to say, I attempt to portray the sublime teachings of my faith in artistic work. My inspiration comes from the mystical writings and teachings of the Bahá’í Faith. I have been a Bahá’í since 1963.

My creative work uses colors in original ways that do not derive from any photographic influences. If I were to characterize my style and use of shapes and colors, I might call it Natural Expressionism because I often partially abstract the natural forms of birds, bodies of water, and trees. I perform most of the abstractions during actual picture taking with a film camera rather than after scanning and post processing. I have been influenced to some degree by a variety of painters. Those influences include Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Wassily Kandinsky, and Marc Chagall. Although some of the backgrounds in my photographs might resemble Impressionist textures, my work is not Impressionism. People often misapply the term to misty and out-of-focus but otherwise ordinary photographs.

I use a variety of techniques to go beyond the limitations of film to achieve an personal style including strong backlighting, creative on camera filtration, cross processing techniques, Sabattier effect (solarization), film “sandwiches,” and “pushing” film by underexposing and overdeveloping it. Long before digital software became available, I designed and built an optical slide copier out of Nikon and enlarger parts in order to achieve desired effects and colors.

Adobe Photoshop is my primary tool for reinterpreting my photograph’s original colors and prepare images for archival printing. I also suppress excessive grain and scanning artifacts and make various color adjustments. I do not use artificial image effects or digital filters.

Abstract: “Considered apart from concrete existence … Having an intellectual and affective artistic content that depends solely on intrinsic form rather than on narrative content or pictorial representation.” (www.thefreedictionary.com)

Impressionism: “the aim of reproducing the immediate impression or mood of things, especially the effects of light … rather than form or structure.”
(Definitions above are condensed from www.thefreedictionary.com)

Visionary art “is art that purports to transcend the physical world and portray a wider vision of awareness including spiritual or mystical themes, or is based in such experiences.” (Wkilpedia)

Hybrid: “a composite of mixed origin.”

I created a video memorial to my three-year-old son, David. The Bahá’í Faith is the belief system I have always lived by.

I have included a statement of my interests here because it expands on what motivates my art and photography: Bahá’í Faith, environmental concerns, animal welfare and care, cosmology, harmony of science and religion, and health and nutrition issues. I am nonpartisan and generally apolitical and progressive thinking.

My Favorite Music: primarily mid- and late Renaissance (Vivaldi to Mozart), Beethoven, nearly all Jazz, Celtic, folk and pop-rock, Persian and Indian, and a highly eclectic variety of other music as well. Among my favorites: Moody Blues, Joni Mitchell, Enya, Van Morrison, Sarah MacLachlin, Stevie Nicks, Gloria Estefan, Loreena McKennitt, Bobby McFerrin, and many others. I don’t enjoy any Heavy Metal, Rap, Las Vegas or Broadway genres, or “elevator music.”

A Few of My Favorite Artists: El Greco, Pablo Picasso (earlier rather than later), Vincent Van Gogh, Marc Chagall, Claude Monet, Mark Tobey, Paul Cezanne, and Wasilly Kandinsky. I am currently wriitng a book about abstract art that concentrates on those artists. It was inspired by Kandinsky’s book, Concerning the Spiritual in Art but covers a different topic range than he did.

My Favorite Book: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u'lláh

My Favorite Types of Movies: recent films with high quality CGI and little or no violence unless absolutely necessary for setting or character development. I never watch overtly violent or war-related movies or those with vulgar or buffoonish humor. I enjoy watching high-quality animation such as Dreamworks and Pixar films. My current favorite TV shows are Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica, The Dog Whisperer, Meerkat Manor, NCIS, Damages, Leverage, Fringe, and Atlanta Braves broadcasts. Classic favorite TV: The X-Files. I rarely watch the News except for BBC-America or MSNBC. I like the Ovation, Sci-Fi, National Geographic, Science, History, and Discovery channels.

I recently moved to Omaha, Nebraska with my German Shepherd Dogs, Magic and Jewel. I have two sons, Nicholas and Benjamin. Both have recently served in the US Air Force in the computer field. I have driven a low emissions hybrid car for the past three years.

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