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Mission : After relocating to California with an absence of over 13 years, I thought long and hard about what I could do in my home state that I hadn't already done before. It may be that after 13+ years of being in the military, the thinking rubbed off on me... I wanted a cohesive and unifying theme to work on as opposed to simply wandering aimlessly with my camera. I wanted a directed plan. I wanted a mission, so to speak. I expressed this desire to my wife Lisa, who immediately said "Well that's exactly it. The Missions." In an effort to make images on gut instinct, I've chosen to photograph all of the California Missions with simply my iPhone 4. Photoshop post-production is minimal.

Mission

After relocating to California with an absence of over 13 years, I tho ...

Updated: Dec 26, 2012 7:29am PST

Galleries

Konza... One Year in Kansas : Luckily, I came away from Kansas with a fairly good range of experiences and photographs to show for the year I was there. It's amazing how much more you recognize the nuances of the weather in a place that has much less geography to offer you. In a way, the weather replaces the varietal void that you experience in such a place. I watched the weather a lot. Of course "hearing" the unrelenting thunder on a nightly basis is no less sensual, it would set off the car alarm occasionally. The lightning would strobe through the edge of the window blinds with regularity at night. Kansas, believe it or not, has some very unique and interesting geographic features. They're not necessarily dramatic, they're gentle. Hunting for them made it all the more worthwhile. Mushroom rocks, pilgrim signatures, mild valleys and endless grain silos. It's not all just your standard "Country Kitchen" fair to be sure. Kansas gave me more than I had time to capture. The storms and weather patterns, of course, filled all the down-time between exposures.

Konza... One Year in Kansas

Jersey Shore :

Jersey Shore

Updated: Feb 14, 2011 9:05pm PST

Mission : After relocating to California with an absence of over 13 years, I thought long and hard about what I could do in my home state that I hadn't already done before. It may be that after 13+ years of being in the military, the thinking rubbed off on me... I wanted a cohesive and unifying theme to work on as opposed to simply wandering aimlessly with my camera. I wanted a directed plan. I wanted a mission, so to speak. I expressed this desire to my wife Lisa, who immediately said "Well that's exactly it. The Missions." In an effort to make images on gut instinct, I've chosen to photograph all of the California Missions with simply my iPhone 4. Photoshop post-production is minimal.

Mission

After relocating to California with an absence of over 13 years, I tho ...

Updated: Dec 26, 2012 7:29am PST

Yosemite Springtime :

Yosemite Springtime

Updated: Feb 14, 2011 10:41pm PST

Weatherly and the Train Works : Like most other visual pursuits of mine, Weatherly and the Trainworks began not as a coordinated or preplanned event, but as happenstance that grew into somewhat of an affection. Weatherly, even the name seeps with quaintness. It’s simple, and when the church bell isn’t ringing it’s also fairly quiet. Now I’m pretty much a misplaced Californian, so my fondness of byway Pennsylvanian boroughs and towns doesn’t come from being a local, nor does it come from being a tourist. In California I am inundated with the new- oh there’s texture to be sure, but you wouldn’t necessarily know it by driving through a random neighborhood. Towns in central Pennsylvania stand in contrast, where the economical designs of the past, together with the flaking paint and peeled siding interweave with John Mellencamp’s “Small Town” as I drive through. That cultural contrast is what my mind stumbled upon when I first rolled into Weatherly, (known once upon a time as Black Creek) in order to visit an old Army buddy back in 2000. Since then, my visits have been dual purpose; friends and exploration. On one these walks around town, I stood on the main thoroughfare staring at an aged industrial building that appeared to be older than anything else. With train tracks leading into it and a river running alongside, I couldn’t resist. What was once the Weatherly “Train Works” seemed so central to this Pennsylvania discovery of mine. With the assistance of a long-time resident by the name of John, whom I believe worked there when he was young; I was graciously given the opportunity to photograph the place inside and out. The images came easily. Still, I’m a semi-routine observer, just visiting with a sense to pause. Every time I do I’ve come away with something new and worthwhile. Perhaps new only to my west-coast sensitivities, but old compared to me! I won’t attempt to verbally extrapolate the images, that’s not something I do (I find it silly when artists do that!) but maybe you’ll get a feeling like I did at the Train Works- something that felt somewhat gritty but familiar, something industrial of course, something… American? Rational or not, it was visually exciting! I never really “complete” a place that interests me, and there may be more images to be made from this place that is so terrifically commonplace. After all, my old Army buddy expects another visit from me soon I suspect. I’ll look some more, however the most indelible impressions have largely been made in my mind’s eye. I think about them as we make our journey back home and the kids bug me to play what they want to hear from my iPod. They oddly ask me to play “Allentown”…

Weatherly and the Train Works

Like most other visual pursuits of mine, Weatherly and the Trainworks ...

Updated: Feb 21, 2011 8:04pm PST

Wonderous Wasteland: Salton Sea : For many people, my fascination of the Salton Sea is considered a bit twisted. The place reeks of decay. Quite literally, the dead Tilapia fish that lie all around the poorly oxygenated water cause the place, in some areas, to smell horrible. I loved it then and miss it now. Salton Sea is like another world. A forgotten piece of California that was almost developed, then neglected. Who knows what's become of it since I last visited. In the middle of the summer the temperature would reach over 120 easily. The humidity, uugh. It would actually mottle-up my sheet film if I didn't keep it in a cooler. I hope it hasn't changed too much, except for the abysmal pollution coming into the lake from the south. It would be nice to journey back to this seemingly wasted place again. The things I found there, I've seen nowhere else.

Wonderous Wasteland: Salton Sea

For many people, my fascination of the Salton Sea is considered a bit ...

Updated: Feb 25, 2011 9:36pm PST

California :

California

Updated: Nov 27, 2011 8:40pm PST

Your Bio

Throughout my journey, photography-as-exploration has always been the thread of continuity that keeps life interesting and new. Outside of having a great family, 25 years of wandering with a camera has been the best part of living. To stop now would be akin to death. That’s about as much as I can rationalize the “why” of image making, the rest can hopefully be explained visually.