I consider myself an artist by nature and a photographer by choice. Photography is the vehicle to deliver my vision. Many terms to describe my work: fine art photography, photo mixed media, mixed media photography and can be summarized as fine art mixed media photography. The maturing from the 11″x14″ silver print to the 4′x5′ mixed media painting is coming to fruition.

I feel the need to continually check myself regarding the “rules” and how the paradigm changes regarding shooting digital over film, converting color to black & white, and printing electronically rather than silver prints. Now, my work has moved into even more unpredictable directions, the use of my images in mixed media. The image needs to stand alone, but what is done with the image is what makes it more interesting. The deconstruction of the image and then reconstruction cutting and tearing the images, paint, airbrush, charcoal, varnishes and finally encaustic wax, changes the interpretation of the image into something new and completely different.

My current body of work is the evolution from more traditional photography. I wouldn’t call myself a photojournalist, though at times I’ve shot as an archivist with a photo journalistic angle. I wouldn’t call myself a street photographer, but much of the time my camera is by my side shooting whatever catches my eye. I wouldn’t call myself a portrait photographer, although I have basked in the joy of shooting someone in a more formal setting, or catching them at “that” moment when least expected.

When I first started shooting in 1968, I only shot black and white. Except for archival slides of Native American quill and beadwork and family shots, it was all black and white. Up until 2000, film was my primary image source. For some reason, in my mind, I felt that black and white prints were fine art and color prints were snap shots. By the late 90’s with the emergence of the digital camera, I started shooting more fine art photography in color. And now in the 20’s it’s shifting again.

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