I am a retired Forest Service hydrologist, and have been photographing the American west for thirty years. Portraying the natural world through photography started as a pastime, but quickly moved through the hobby/passion/obsession progression. Today there are over sixty thousand images in my files.
I have chosen the photographs in this portfolio to give the viewer an idea of the breadth of subject matter and geographic coverage in my library. Landscapes show not only the standard icons, but also seldom-seen backcountry locations. Wildlife images strive not only to depict individual species, but also behavior that gives an insight into their lives. All animals are wild, free-roaming, and in their natural habitats.
I have written and photographed two books. Mountains and Mesas (Northland Publishing, 1996) depicts the natural history and environmental issues of the Northern Rockies and Colorado Plateau, and Incredible Vision (Riverbend Publishing, 2003) takes a similar look at the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
My photographs have been published in Outdoor Photographer, National Wildlife, Sierra Club Calendars, as well as many regional publications. I was honored to have an image of a red fox named as one of the twenty best photographs of the first forty years of National Wildlife. In 2006 I was fortunate to win the Annual Editors Choice Award in the Fauna catagory at NPN, and have also had several weekly Editors Choice awards over the years. I have had had articles on photography published in Outdoor Photographer and on NPN. Currently I lead Elderhostel Groups in Yellowstone, and teach a photography class for the Yellowstone Institute.
Today, I live in Dillon, Montana on the edge of the Yellowstone Ecosystem with my wife, Alice, a fifth-grade teacher, and our lab, Abby. Our daughter, Shannon, is a pilot in Tennessee.
I hope you will enjoy these photographs, as they represent my personal vision of the American West. They are, admittedly, a single perspective of a complex image. They are made only on public land, and only in places that have been protected with the idea of maintaining the natural landscape - our National Parks and Wilderness areas. Photographs like these are generally not possible where there is logging, grazing, mining, dammed rivers, polluted air and, in the case of wildlife, hunting. It is fitting and proper that these wild, protected places exist. As the world becomes more crowded and the opportunity for personal seculsion and adventure diminishes, the need for them will increase. I offer these photographs as a reminder of the values that are compromised by allowing development in the present to close out opportunities to experience wildness in the future. Thanks for stopping by.
