Kristin

This photo was taken on a retreat to a lodge in eastern Washington with a large group of women. It was a girls' getaway weekend experience, complete with a mountain view, hot tub and a full service bar. There was sunshine by day and a chill in the air at night; there were stories to be told and bare feet to toast by the fire. There were peals of laughter, long walks and time alone to explore with my camera. This shot of Kristin was special to me. We were curious about the whereabouts of a wedding party we had seen posing for pictures on the lawn and went out in search of it; me the paparazzi and Kristin the hopeful wedding crasher. We only found a few hikers and a pavillion full of empty white chairs. I was playing with my lens baby that weekend and I had her sit down on a randow chair. The light was perfect. It works as a portrait of Kristin because there is genuine warmth and strength in it. She went looking for a throng of people and found herself, instead, swallowed up by a sea of empty chairs. She seemed to embrace the humor in the situation and appeared completely at ease. There is a subtle impression the photo leaves me with, something about her gaze in the direction of the setting sun that is both vulnerable and optimistic.

Offerings for The Buddha

This first full moon of May is in the Buddhist tradition the anniversary of the Buddha's birth, his enlightenment and his passing from this world.

I offer this photograph to commemorate his birthday, and thank him for his many jewels of wisdom.

Here is one that I have found to be especially useful:

Do not pursue the past. Do not lose yourself in the future. The past no longer is, and the future has not yet come. Look deeply at life, just as it is arising in the very here and now. Recognize it--invincible, unshakable. Care for it with your heart and mind. The Buddha

Musings of an Urban Angel

Urban Angel-Mexico City

The stillness at dawn

ruptures all dreams

Three Wet Kids

I was going through some old things recently and came across this photograph, Three Wet Kids. I think it was taken in '88 or '89 while living in Michigan, just before moving to Switzerland. These children were on their own and spoke little English. It's out of focus and harshly lit, but I like it.

I read an article on one of my favorite Photographers, Richard Avedon, where Avedon describes a photograph he made while on vacation in Sicily... "Technically amateurish, an almost unprintable negative, but from the moment I took it I had some inarticulate sense that the image mattered to me. There was something autobiographical about it- in that boy, his smile, his overeagerness, and his shoulders thrown back so violently and vulnerably." That's how I felt with these three kids, turning their gaze briefly, curiously, toward me before running back down the beach. It was a fleeting encounter but has endured in my memory and still speaks to me of strength and vulnerability.

I have learned to pay attention to images that matter to me, to acknowledge they are important without knowing why.

Urban Graphic

I am working on an Urban Graphic Series, a graphic approach to urban street photography. The photographs I've collected for this series were taken mostly in my home town of Seattle. I use my camera to collect digital photo-sketches of urban life that express moments of clarity within a visually chaotic scene. For me they are visual haiku, distilled images that cut through the clutter and noise.

Graphic Color

My eye naturally leans toward subjects where color or a strong graphic structure dominates. I think about balance and perspectice when working with an image and I have an aversion to visual clutter. I value brevity and simplicity, much like the form of poetry I'm drawn to most often is Haiku.

In the image shown here, I have used color as the predominant element of design. The bright red wall of the fish tank overtakes the strong, graphic lines and contrast of the composition. I think it's because of the basic, primal level that red seems to operate on. I couldn't get away from thinking about the fish, once lively and flashing through the waters of the Sea of Cortez; now on ice. One juror said it was "effective and strange with the red, black and white strength and the fish upside down with eyes wide open."

People Shadows

When it comes to photographing people I am somewhat of a coward. The direct opposite of paparazzi, I seem to always choose an oblique angle or shoot into the shadows people cast so as not to be too intrusive. It's partly to avoid the legal issues involved with photographing people and obtaining model releases, etc. But I think it's also to do with the way I see things; the way I tend to break an image down into negative space and the elements of design. This gives me a much less literal approach to my subjects. I look for the shapes and angles in the shadows that loosely define the human form. They seem to be both solid and ethereal; mysterious entities with lives of their own. I think of Carl Jung's treatise on the importance of integrating our shadow selves; or Balinese shadow puppetry where the spiritual is given theatrical expression and the shadowy shapes define the characters.