In seventh grade, a photography club field trip took me to an Ansel Adams exhibit. I had never heard of Adams. I had never heard of Yosemite. I didn't understand much about what I was looking at — only that it amazed me. The scale of those prints, the light in them, the way wilderness felt both immense and intimate at once. I walked out knowing, with unusual certainty for a twelve-year-old, what kind of photographs I liked.

It was only later that I began to understand the full dimension of Adams's work. He didn't just photograph the American landscape. He fought for it. That idea has never left me.

My wife Jenney and I have been traveling and camping together for more than 40 years, the last 13 in our truck camper — National Forests, BLM land, National Parks, and wilderness areas from the east to the west coast. Landscapes and nature remain my primary subject.

Inspired by Woody Guthrie's conviction that this land belongs to all of us, ourlandphotography.org exists to make that argument in photographs.

I volunteered as a photographer for Shenandoah National Park. I enjoyed the experience and felt the satisfaction of doing something to help. I'm hoping to turn that experience into a long-term commitment to help preserve America’s Wild Places through my photography.

BACKGROUND

35mm black & white film · Medium format · 4×5 view camera · Zone system & pre-visualization · Digital photography

FOCUS

Grand landscapes and Nature · America's public lands · National Forests · BLM land · National Parks · State Parks · Conservation lands

MISSION

Photography in service of public lands preservation — in the tradition of Ansel Adams and the spirit of Woody Guthrie.