I am an award-winning landscape photographer from the United States.
Even though I do not make my work available for sale on this Web site, I do sell my work to clients around the world. Prior to 2016, my work was sold in limited editions of 50 images or less. Beginning in 2016, however, I reduced my edition size to just one. If you’re interested in reading about my decision to reduce my edition size to one, you can read about it here.
While I started off my career using Nikon cameras and glass, I have been shooting exclusively with Phase One medium-format gear and Schneider-Kreuznach glass since 2013. I currently shoot with a Phase One XF camera body. As my clients demanded larger and larger prints (beyond the 60×40-inch prints that I regularly produced with my Nikon D800E), it became necessary to find a camera system that was capable of producing high-quality images that could be printed on single panels as large as eight feet wide. Still, I remain agnostic when it comes to gear. It will always be — for me, at least — about having the right tool for the job. Based on what I shoot, and how big I print, my Phase One camera system remains the best tool for me.
If you’d like a little more insight into who I am as a photographer, be sure to check out this video, which is part of the “Unfiltered” series produced by Rod Clark, founder of Wine Country Camera.
You can also learn more about me from this podcast.
And you can, if you still haven’t had enough, read more about me here.
Meanwhile, I was a judge in the Open/Pro division for the 2017 and 2018 Epson International Photographic Pano Awards. It was an honor and privilege to be a judge for this well-respected photography contest during those two years. I am looking forward to returning as a judge in the future.
Speaking of judging (and totally unrelated to photography), in 2019-2020 I was part of a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) judging panel that helped name the Mars 2020 rover. The rover, called Perseverance, launched on July 30, 2020. Perseverance successfully landed on Mars on February 18, 2021.
Prior to my photography career, I worked as a producer at AOL (formerly called America Online) and as a business journalist at The San Francisco Chronicle and TheStreet.com, where I covered Wall Street as a reporter. I also co-authored a New York Times Best Seller when I was at TheStreet.com.
I received a bachelor’s degree in history from Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Idaho College of Law.
Finally, during my spare time I play a lot of indoor racquetball. I am a member of the National Masters Racquetball Association and the USA Racquetball Association. When I am not playing racquetball or capturing images, I like to play chess.
Artist Statement
I create landscape images because I love it. Nothing makes me happier than being out in the field, in nature, chronicling the things I see with my own eyes. The mind is feeble and, with time, forgetful, however. Capturing an image, therefore, serves two essential functions: one, it makes it more difficult for me to forget the beauty I experienced in the moment. And, two, it allows me to share with others what I saw and captured.
I realize that many people will never have the opportunity to visit some of the places I’ve seen while others may be introduced to a location through my work and be inspired to visit some day. Still others, meanwhile, may have already visited places I’ve captured. Regardless, I make sure I do my best to capture the essence of place when I’m out in the field. And I hope my images bring a smile to your face — regardless of whether you’ll never go to a place I’ve captured, will go in the future, or have already been.
Having said all of that, I capture images that make me happy. I’ve said this many times: I will not capture a subject simply because it pays the bills. No amount of money, for example, will encourage me to capture a wedding. That kind of photography simply doesn’t appeal to me. I won’t capture an iconic subject if I am not drawn to it. Indeed, I capture what I love and hope you’ll love it, too. In sum, trying to make my viewers happy first — and me second — could result in soulless, wooden images that I may not necessarily believe in or connect with. I’d have a portfolio that is mostly, even if potentially viable on a commercial basis, bereft of meaning for me.
I don’t approach photography from a philosophical point of view that permeates each image. Instead, my images reflect what I see in my mind’s eye before I get in the field. My photography reflects my purpose and intent. Indeed, I rarely show up to a landscape scene and simply document what happened while I was there. No. Rather, my images reflect my interpretation of scenes through my choice of composition, light, and exposure. In that way, Ansel Adams informs my thinking out in the field: “Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art.”
Meanwhile, my portfolio is comprised of single-image captures. I don’t do high-dynamic-range photography (HDR), I don’t stitch images together, and I don’t blend various scenes from several images into a final image. That’s not to say I have a negative opinion of those approaches. Absolutely not. In fact, many of my photographer friends employ any number of those techniques, producing some amazing, incredible images that I appreciate, respect, and thoroughly enjoy. Still, I simply find that I get more personal satisfaction from trying to get as much as possible into a single capture. That approach, of course, often means I have to return to the field over and over again until I get the conditions I want and need for my images. So be it. (I do, of course, edit my RAW images. I use the latest version of Capture One Pro, Photoshop, and Lightroom to edit my work.)