Maybe it was too soon for the "digital revolution", or perhaps I was just thinking too big, but it went down in flames within three years, as most start-ups do, oozing with ideas but flat broke.

In any case, with the death of my father, my willingness to "wait for the shot", was lost. As I no longer had someone I felt I needed to impress. Since he was a big fan of Ansel Adams, John Sexton, Edward and Brett Weston, at the time, it behooved me to try and get as close to these modern masters' works as I could, so he'd continue to buy film.

I remember well, when he bought me my first Canon EOS-10s. Since then there have been two other 10s, and an EOS-3, (which I found too complicated to actually take any pictures with), and a slew of professional and amatuer lenses, and filters, which I dragged up countless hills. Each time, renewed by the hope and expection of my getting an "Ansel Adams".

Due to my physical disability, and my height, 6'1" I was forced to carry a monster tripod, (these were the days before carbon fiber). Which as bulky as it was, actually, helped my work, both literally and figuratively. In that by its very weight, forced me to be aware of the exact images I wanted to get, before I even took a first step. You don't forget where you're going, when you're carrying a signifigant weight. But also by allowing me to actually observe my subject and scene, thereby providing for a more meaningful awareness of the images, and aspects of their creation.

I have tried to write a brief story of the circumstances, (Notes), which surrounded each of the photographs which I've provided within this portfolio. So as to convey the positive influence and the weight of the equipment, as each is recalled from memory upto 7-20 years later as I write this in 2007.

For instance, in 1983, my father and I, drove all the way across the US, then down the west coast, and back across through Mexico, (10 months on the road), when I was about 10 years old. I almost always saw him AE-1 in hand, from Davenport Iowa, to the steps of Palenque in Quintana Roo, and I admired him. So when he bought my EOS, it was more of a subtle acknowledgement that I could do as well as he had, than a camera.

He always used to joke about the pictures from my childhood. On the 1983 trip, he'd let me use his AE-1, to photograph animals at whatever zoo we were near, and later as we went through the shots, they invariably seemed to be the the animals' backsides. So I gradually gave up on photographing captive animals, turning instead to the expansive and intricate vistas which I had been exposed to, (no pun intended).

It wasn't until the reading of a book by John Shaw, Close-ups in Nature, followed by the three books by Ansel Adams, that I truely saw a distinct improvement in the quality of my images. It was at this point that I was able to purchase my first set of glass filters. Luckily, the EOS 10s has an auto-bracketting program, so I was able to experiment with exposures easily, and quickly. Please note that Photoshop didn't even exist yet, and if you went back in time and described how a digital camera works to somebody you knew, they'd just laugh at you, and your crazy ideas.

My film of choice, Kodak Technical Pan 25, (used by NASA for astrophotography), was recently discontinued, and is no longer available in "fresh bricks". As the world is now shifting purely to the use of digital cameras, there seems to be little need for the old school photographic skills, and/or the know how, I've accumulated. However, rather than ranting like an old man, clutching his cane, and shouting at the kids, from the front porch, I'd simply ask you to look at my photographs, and to judge for yourself their ultimate quality.