As mentioned in the Biography section, I have been fascinated by the unseen worlds beneath our feet since I was a child. As a lover of the beauty of the natural world, photography seemed a natural way to interpret and share with others that love. This site, then, is a way to put my art out there for others who appreciate the details of the natural world. As a beautyholic, though, I point my camera at anything that catches my eye. So you will find a lot more here than close-up images of nature.

If I have a signature body of work, it would have to be my dewdrop images. Obtaining good close-up photographs of dewdrops presents special challenges to the macro photographer. Trying to capture a beautiful refracted scene within a dewdrop is a bit like writing haiku or a sonnet. A single blade of grass with dew, for instance, presents predictable and challenging obstacles to the photographer. Successfully working within those constraints can be incredibly satisfying, and the possible variations on this simple theme are infinite.

In this world where one can never be sure whether an image is an accurate rendition of what the photographer actually saw or is a creation done with a computer (or is a combination of the two), I would be remiss if I didn't mention that all of my images except those in the Photoshop Fantasies gallery are pretty much straight out of the camera. I say "pretty much" because at least 95% of the photos on this site were taken with slide film and were then scanned. Scanned images never match the color renditions of the slide exactly, so it is imperative to use some Photoshop to try to accurately match the slides. Those taken with a digital camera were also color balanced but otherwise unmanipulated. The dewdrop photos in particular often inspire suspicions of Photoshop manipulation; people often seem sure I have "placed" the oak trees within the drops of water. These images are true renditions of what I saw, and you too can see the same by getting down on your belly some wet early morning and looking closely at the amazing miniature worlds around us.

There are very few images on this site that employ the use of flash. One notable exception is DG-CA-1011, a dragonfly image under the Northern California gallery. Other than a few others that involved some fill-flash, all the rest were done with natural light. I frequently use reflected natural light as a kind of natural fill-flash, as is the case with FR-CA-1151. Compare this image with FR-CA 1150, which was made without using the reflector. I have nothing against flash. The fact is that I actually like the colors rendered with natural light better than those I get with flash.

I hope these photographs will inspire you to seek out the subtle drama within the more familiar scenery around us. The next time you wake up and see dew on your lawn, perhaps you will pause and reflect on the depth of the unseen beauty before you.

Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in purchasing images, are curious about technical aspects of my photography, or just want to send me feedback. Thanks for visiting my site.