Painted-With-Light

I grew up in South Bend, Indiana and graduated from John Adams High School and Indiana University with a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics. I now live in beautiful Arizona just below the Mogollon Rim. My perspective on landscape photography is to provide a realistic portrail of what I witnessed when making the image. I do not alter the image beyond color corrections, dodging and burning in Photoshop that are the digital equivalent (and actually superior to) what previously were standard darkroom techinques.

My interest in and pursuit of photography was greatly affected by the purchase of a Mamiya 7II medium format film camera and a single 65mm wide angle lens. This camera has amazing optics and in fact a reputation for some of the sharpest lenses on our planet. Combined with Fujichrome Velvia transparency film and an Imacon Photo scanner, I was far exceeding anything that 35mm could do in terms of tonalities and resolution.

Many of the images on this website were made with an Arca Swiss large format camera which captures images on 4x5 inch film. My primary film is Fujichrome Provia 100F. 4x5 inch film holds an amazing amount of detail and is capable of producing excellent prints at 10x enlargements or up to 40" x 50".

A fewer number of the images were made with a Kodak DCS Pro 16 megapixel digital back on my Contax 645 system. The Kodak digital back was upgraded to a Leaf Aptus 75S 33 megapixel digital back in 2008. Consequently many of the newer images appearing are made with the Aptus 75S on the Contax 645. I have stopped using film entirely and find the Leaf Aptus 75S superior in every respect to 45 film.

Finding an image in the landscape is time consuming. I often travel several times to the same location to find the perfect combination of light and sky which will make the image special. It's a great way to explore the natural world.