Artist Statement

In my day job as a transactional lawyer there is little room for creativity or free expression. Choice of typeface is about it. So making artistic images from my photos is my creative outlet, and it's satisfying and enjoyable to make art that I had envisaged through my mind's eye.

While I have no formal education or training in art or photography I have had the opportunity to study art and photography in museums and galleries all over the world during the past 50 years. Earlier in my career I was an engineer responsible for drilling oil and gas wells in many parts of the world. Later as an international business lawyer I had the opportunity to travel even more and visit more museums and galleries. It has been invaluable to stand before a painting or print to study and contemplate the composition, light and shadow used by master painters and photographers. In the past I've been a self learner/teacher in developing my craft but I'm increasingly participating in workshops and seeking out mentors to further deveop a unique and personal style. 

My work has been influenced by both the pictorialist and straight photography movements of the 19th and 20th centuries, and my personal style is still a work in process. 

While composition and exposure are always important, I consider post processing to be just as important, if not more so. In my post processing I exercise artistic license to create an aesthetic and pleasing image. My images are not intended to represent reality. They are intended to represent my vision and interpretation of reality. Often that vision is idealistic and shows the world as I it wish it was. In terms of poetry my vision might be represented by a William Wordsworth poem and in terms of music it could be represented by the soft jazz of Sade or Chris Standring. 

My equipment is not extensive. I use the Nikon mirrorless full-frame system with only a few lenses. Post processing is in Lightroom and Photoshop with the help of plugins, mostly Topaz and DxO.