CREATE! MAGAZINE

My work, along with the following interview, was featured in the December, 2022 issue of Create! Magazine, an independent contemporary arts magazine focused on highlighting the work of talented emerging and mid-career creatives across the globe. Create! is available through both print and digital subscription (https://www.createmagazine.com/).

In college my journalism degree had a photography requirement. When I took Photography 101 and learned to use my first ‘serious’ camera, I was hooked. The ability to visually express a thought or emotion, communicate an idea or tell a story was empowering and watching an image emerge in the darkroom was magical. I went on to pay my way through college working as a reporter and photographer for the local daily newspaper. By the time I graduated my interest in photography outweighed my interest in writing and a camera has been a constant companion and integral part of my life ever since. After serving in the Peace Corps, photographing my way through Europe and returning to graduate school to continue my photographic education, I began working as a commercial photographer – which then became my lifelong career.

In 2008 I formed Imaging4Art with my wife, Diane; a business dedicated to providing high resolution digital photography services to prominent museums, galleries, and art institutions. This has given me unprecedented access to an amazing array of work from that of Renaissance masters to world renown contemporary artists. Working with curators, art historians, and conservators who are among the best in their field has been an irreplaceable art education, giving me a background knowledge that informs my personal work.

What aspect of your art do you hope really comes across to your audience?

Photography is the closest we can ever come to seeing through someone else’s eyes. My work is intended as a way to take the viewer on a journey to see the world in my unique way. I find beauty in the ordinary and overlooked and seek out juxtapositions and abstractions of light, line, form, and gesture that we walk by every day without noticing. In the end, I see these as metaphors for the human condition; that while life is both fragile and ephemeral, there is beauty to be found at every stage. Through this transition from youth to old age one can read a full range of emotions; from pride, sadness, and pathos to joy, resolve, and grace.

Who inspires you in your life, whether it be artistically or otherwise?

In my personal life I am most inspired by the love and support of my family – most especially my wife and three sons. Beyond that I am inspired by the people I know who struggle to overcome obstacles, persevere, don’t give up hope, and who choose to do the right thing even when it is the more difficult path.

What keeps you going as an artist? Where do you find that creative drive?

I suspect that it is true of many artists, but I can’t not be creating. It is integral to who I am as a person and how I see the world. As a consummate introvert, it is through my photography that I can express ideas and emotions that are difficult – if not impossible – to verbalize. It is a way of reacting and interacting with the world around me. Although it is gratifying when other people get to see and respond to my work, the creation itself is a selfish act, something I do for my own wellbeing.

Tell us about your primary goal for the future. Has this goal changed over time?

T. S. Eliot wrote “Our beginnings can never know our ends.” Not knowing is part of the journey. Going forward, while the possibilities of this current series are endless, I expect my work to evolve. I will let it follow its natural course – one which I cannot force or predict. Beyond that it is my hope to be able to have these images experienced by a broader audience because I believe the work is worthy. What I do know is that I will continue to create - whatever form it may take.