Made during Creativity in Travel Photography with Nevada Wier – 2023

My passion for photography stems from a desire to visually simplify and organize a complex world. I move through life observing its details, it’s who I am. The act of photographing requires me to be truly present and to really focus on what is before me. I love to travel and now structure my travels around photography.

I started photographing abstract subjects with my iPhone during a period of profound grief and shared those photos anonymously with a world of strangers via the “new” Instagram app. My photography and the international community I found brought calm, focus and and a sense of privacy to my life. In time, it brought great joy. As my grief diminished, my subjects deepened and evolved. I no longer rely on my iPhone and I no longer share photos via social media, yet my deep love of photography remains.

I am a lifelong learner of new skills and techniques and love to spend time in the company of highly talented artists. This photograph was made in a Creativity in Travel Photography workshop with the incomparable Nevada Weir and it is the result of a challenging assignment to bring a unique vision to photographing objects in motion. The July afternoon in Santa Fe was blazing hot, the sunlight was blinding, the horses and riders were flying past through the dust over and over and we were supposed to do what with our cameras again?

I share photographs that reverberate with me and I am always honored when they reverberate with you.

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Made during Fine Art Photography and Printmaking with Michael Eastman – 2016.

Until taking the Michael Eastman workshop, most of my images were rendered in black and white. I wanted to explore how color conveys mood, emotion, and emphasis in a photograph. I was seeking to express the color palette of New Mexico landscapes which are drying, burning, and fading before our eyes. Using layers and textures, I produced this image of a common mountain shape, rendering it unique.

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Made during Editorial Portraits in Natural Light with Celeste Sloman – 2023

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Made during Location Photography and Lighting with Joe McNally – 2015

This image, titled Vaquero, resonates for me as it was captured during a week shadowing acclaimed photographer and Nikon Ambassador Joe McNally. Joe introduced me to sculpting light… not only to define form but to evoke a mood and emotion. And, he opened my eyes to the concept that powerful portraiture need not include a face. Often, the most profound expressions appear in subtle gestures and the play of light and shadow.

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Made during The Digital Photographer’s Toolbox with Josh Withers – 2016

“Stillness” was shot on location outside of Santa Fe at the famed Eaves Ranch. Shooting this image, I felt the quietness in an abandoned room. An elk skull placed on a rustic chair, connected to the laced curtain with a spiderweb, painted with sunlight through the window.

On the set of an old western town, I was reminded of my first visit to Santa Fe when I was only five years old to visit family that has been in Santa Fe since the early 1900s.  I still cherish a photo taken of me in my cousin’s oversized, dusty cowboy hat and boots, envisioning life gone by in the wild, wild west.  

The Santa Fe Workshops gives students access to incredible professional photographers who always manage to take our imaginations and skills to the next level.  I continue taking workshops to learn new techniques that expand my perspective. 

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Made during Inkjet Printing in an Alternate Universe with Dan Burkholder – 2018

As often happens when I am on a multi-day shooting excursion, I find that I get better images as the trip progresses. Balance Rock, near the island village of Tlell was shot on day three and in my mind, is one of the strongest images from my trip. I was aware of this location from my pre-trip research but was open minded about how I would approach the shot as I walked down to the beach. I carry a viewing window with me which I have cut from matt board which I use to pre-visualize the image. After walking completely around the subject I settled on this angle. The rock is centrally located and the obvious focal point. The sweep of the foreground rocks, clouds and trees all work together to lead the eye directly to that focal point.

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Made during New Mexico Landscape and Lightroom with Jean Miele – 2023

I was exploring on my own (during some free time) when I came upon this scene along a tributary of the Rio Grande.  Compositionally, the flora and clouds seemed to conspire to complement each other.  I was experimenting with infra-red (still a part of my creative practice) and found that it enhanced the complementary elements.  Post-processing using a variety of tools allowed for even more expressiveness of what I saw and felt at the time.  It was a magical moment that was emblematic of the whole week with Gino!

The workshop was inspiring in different ways.  First, was an unusual get to know your classmates rotating speed-Q&A-session. (Created a lot of cohesion among us students.) Second, we photographed at different times of day in a variety of landscapes.  Third, we visited a gallery and a collector who provided intriguing perspectives on what they value in images and what makes them unique.  Finally, we spent time learning processing techniques that brought out greater depth, feeling and impact in our images.  It was a 360-degree week – immersive and engaging.

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Made during Poetry of Place with Susan Burnstine – 2024

Minor White is one of my heroes. Known not only for his masterful photographs, but also his memorable quotes confirming his unique perspective on photography and life. His quote, “When gifts are given to me through my camera, I accept them graciously” resonates deeply for me as I have been gifted many a mystical “where did that come from” image when making photographs. “Murmurs” fits this category. Created for a Santa Fe Workshop class “Poetry of Place” in 2024, taught by the renowned photographic artist Susan Burnstine. Both Susan and her course were phenomenal, as has every Santa Fe Workshop class I’ve ever attended. It is through this workshop that I was introduced to the technique Intentional Camera Movement (ICM), where the camera is intentionally moved during the exposure while it is set at a slow shutter speed creating blurred images often resulting in unpredictable outcomes. This image was shot outside of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi located in downtown Santa Fe. I have to believe that the “Spirit” Minor White references in another famous quote, was present that day. The possibility of witnessing a murmur of nuns stride by and documenting the moment was miraculous in itself. Not until later that evening as I reviewed the image was I able to to recognize the further “gifts” imbedded in the photo. Faint figures appear to rise out of the stone, bats and angels circling above. Dark windows low to the ground, mysterious and foreboding. The nuns are clustered tightly, the ICM blending them, seemingly one body. Are they lighthearted and oblivious, or huddled close, protected, murmuring dark secrets? Interpretation is truly in the eye of the beholder, open to endless possibilities. There is something I know for sure though, this image is a gift given by my camera and Spirit, and accepted with grace and gratitude.

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Made during In Nature’s Embrace with Xuan-Hui Ng – 2024

Amid the stillness of the trailhead, the water traced its slow circles—form without force, motion without urgency. The image emerged from watching rather than seeking, revealing itself not in the instant, but in the pause. Patience visualized. It’s a moment not taken but received.

“Las Conchas Meditation” was created during a Santa Fe Workshops course led by Xuan-Hui Ng in July 2024. Through a series of lectures and field work, Xuan-Hui showed us how to embrace nature’s rhythm and see the poetry within. It was a delightful antidote to the bustle and frenzy of city life that is my norm. Seeing the movement of the water, capturing its trails via long exposure photographs, and then simplifying it even further by removing all the color was an illuminating experience that has expanded my vision and clarified my voice in the most wonderful way.

I enjoyed this workshop as well as others I have taken with Santa Fe Workshops, both in person and online. It’s one of the very best things I do for myself, as I always come home with renewed creative energy and a bunch of new friends.

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Made during The Language of Black and White with Cira Crowell – 2024

Khalah Mitchell, the model in this photograph has an exquisite way of moving fluidly when she models. Her movements are so fluid and natural that she strikes her posses with ease. I had several opportunities to photograph her at the Scottish Rite Temple in Santa Fe for a Santa Fe Workshop focused on “The Language of Black and White” by instructor Cira Crowell. There were many photographs of Khalah that I loved but this one has a particular appeal because of the way her body and hair arch back into an almost unbelievable position in one direction, while her hands and fingers point upward towards the sky in another.. Her face is so relaxed and at ease that you know she has trained for this through her dancing appreciation. The edits to the photo were minimal, mostly dodging and burning areas in Lightroom to emphasize the natural areas of light and shadow. Khalah made my photography easy, and Cira provided some great insights into Black and White photography and editing techniques. Both contributed greatly to the success of this photograph!

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Made during Sunsets and Stars at Great Sand Dunes: Capture to Print with Glenn Randall – 2016

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Made during Poetry of Perception with Keith Carter – 2021

Women look at women. Men look at women. Women look at themselves.

Is she looking at herself through her own eyes? Or the eyes of someone else? Someone in particular? Or is she imagining the male/female  gaze?

What does she see? The present? A future self?

This image was created during a workshop with Keith Carter. It was the first time I had worked with a model, and I felt out of my depth. Luckily, Selina, the model, knew what she was doing and started interacting with the objects in the room. My goal was to focus on her as a person. I wanted to catch emotions and thoughts – hopes and dreams and fears and all that’s in-between. I was entranced by this particular moment. She’s looking at herself in the mirror, and you only see her mirror image, and there’s so much going on between the actual Selina and mirror Selina. We can only imagine what’s going through her mind. We can’t know, and for me that’s part of the beauty of the image.

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Made during Visual Poetry with Keith Carter – 2009

My first time in Santa Fe was on a road trip with my parents in 1953. I was nine years old. Even as a child I was enthralled with the culture and ambiance of the city. I well remember my fascination with Santa Fe’s mix of Anglo, Hispanic, and Native American traditions, beliefs, and art. A fascination which remains to this day. I have fond memories of the “road trip-Route 66” type motels and cafes of that time. The Plaza Café, in operation since 1905, is one of those. Although the city has many exceptionally fine restaurants, the Plaza Café is one of my personal favorites. Think refrigerated air, smiling staff, swinging doors, friends in conversation, clink of utensils in iced tea, enchiladas, chicken fried steak, slice of pie, neon, framed photos of regular patrons over their customary booths. A relic of the past still relevant today. Good things are worth preserving. I was moved to attempt to preserve the feeling of that atmosphere in a photograph.

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Made during Mixing It Up: Paint and Photography with Holly Roberts – 2021

Homecoming brings together many of the handmade elements that define my practice. The photograph has been sewn into, abraded to add tactile depth, and layered with painted textures. These physical marks echo the weathered architecture of the house itself and the landscape it inhabits—an aging structure set against the haunting stillness of the Sacramento Delta. The work explores memory and place, asking how the environments we return to shape our understanding of home.

My experience in the Santa Fe Workshop with Holly Roberts was equally layered and rewarding. Holly is a generous and encouraging instructor—someone who not only shares her techniques but also genuinely supports her students’ creative voices. Her openness and curiosity helped foster an atmosphere where experimentation was welcomed, and where each student could create work that felt personally resonant. I left the workshop with new tools, fresh inspiration, and a renewed sense of how to integrate
intuitive mark-making into my photographic process.

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Made during Landscape as Collaborator: Remixing Digital Prints in the Landscape with Anna Rotty – 2025

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Made during Experimental Digital Printmaking with Cotton Miller – 2019

This image, Four Flying Cranes was created using a gum-oil process, during Cotton Miller’s workshop: Experimental Digital Printmaking. We created digital negatives to experiment with a number of alternative processes, such as cyanotype, gum oil, silver leaf and others. I have not continued with the gum oil process, but had success with a few images that I made in the workshop. His workshop was an incredible experience, and all students worked intensely beyond the workshop hours. Cotton is an amazingly knowledgeable and personable teacher, and I have since taken additional workshops with him in Epson Printing, Color, and Creating Digital Negatives for Cyanotype.

The Image, Four Flying Cranes itself is one of my favorites, and I have used it as an inkjet print in color, a silver leaf image, and a cyanotype. I think this gum-oil version is very effective and I love how the detail came out so clearly. I find cranes to be a magical subject matter. My focus in photography is nature, and although I do much of my work with an iPhone, I took this image with my Sony a7iii.

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Made during Nature’s Embrace with Xuan-Hui Ng – 2024

My photograph “Bearing the Full Weight” was taken in Xuan-Hui Ng’s class last July. My group went to a trail about an hour outside of town that was covered in lush green grass, flowers, rocks, and a serene river. I was going through something personal at the time, and decided to take a break and sit down at the river. Xuan encouraged us to really interact with what we were photographing and to get up close. As I was looking into the reflections of the water, my mind started to wander off and think about everything going awry in my life. An important relationship had just ended, and a family member was just diagnosed with a terminal illness. The beautiful thing about nature is that it allows us to come as we are, listen, and not judge. I took the photo of the reflection and flipped it, and left feeling calmer than when I had arrived. Being in nature creates the space for me to show up as I am and help carry the burdens of my life, or to make sense of it. I feel drawn to nature in my photographic practice consistently, and am honored that I could set aside my worries enough to capture this moment.

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Made during The Cultural Portrait with Jennifer Spelman – 2024

We had the opportunity to experience many of the rich and varied cultures of northern New Mexico. It was fun, informative, and we all were able to connect with people we would not have met in our everyday lives.

This particular afternoon was spent at the Ubaya Zen Center photographing indigenous dancers on the extensive grounds. The light was beautiful and diffuse, the dancers lovely to photograph and perfect for portraits.

For this photo I wanted to convey the mystery of the forest and our model. Seeing only the model’s eye peaking through the leaves gives it a sense of wonder and possibly anticipation. Who is she? Why is she here?

Jennifer Spelman, our workshop leader helped immensely both in the classroom and onsite showing us how to “see” different opportunities to create our personal lasting photography.   

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Made during Inkjet Printing in an Alternate Universe with Dan Burkholder – 2019

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Made during Fine-Art Flower Photography with Kathleen Clemons – 2021

This image was created during a workshop led by Kathleen Clemons in August 2021. Kathleen’s guidance served to encourage my already fervent interest in photographing flowers. While I enjoy beautiful fresh flowers, I am consistently drawn to flowers (and other objects) at the end of their life cycle. Whether it be rust, drooping stems, brown-edged petals, or fading color, I see the beauty and character in the aging process. These two stems, in their prime, stood straight and tall, but as they faded, leaning over, they created, to my eye, a perfect curve and a reaching out in a gesture to what comes next.

I very much enjoyed the workshop and the insights and ideas that Kathleen shares with students. Coincidentally, my image selected for the de Young Open 2023, a prestigious triennial exhibition highlighting the artistic talent of the San Francisco Bay Area, was also created during this workshop. So, kudos to Kathleen and fading flowers!

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Made during Landscape as Collaborator with Anna Rotty – 2025

Created by photographing through an optical diffraction film, the image uses sunlight to convey a joyful lightness of mood whilst photographing cherry blossoms in the garden of the Santa Fe
Workshops campus. I love the fact that it was created at the campus; a reminder that we do not need to travel far to make interesting images. The whole of the workshop was very local to the campus. I enjoyed rephotographing images within the landscape, and working with sunlight and water at a local stream.

This image was entirely unexpected, and came from happy experimentation. Anna has only one
sheet of this material, and it is very precious to her. I now have my own, and look forward to
further experimentation!

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Made during A Sense of Place: The Personal Landscape with Susan Burnstine – 2021

The weeklong experience at Santa Fe Workshops and taking the course with Susan Burnstine was one which opened my eyes to what is possible. I was at a point where I was trying to identify the direction to go as a photographer, and this week started that direction of seeing the details in the world we live. To me these details can be lines, patterns, geometry or anything along these concepts which can be simple or complex.

Underpass Shadow is an example of always being aware of the surroundings. One morning I was heading to a location to photograph for one of the assignments and as I exited the freeway, I noticed the light shining on this wall providing the shadow. This forced me to stop and photograph the scene as I also waited for the shadow a few minutes more to come into this position. Being at a location is important, but what I learned from Susan’s A Sense of Place was how to continue to find scenes which connect to your vision.

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Made during New Mexico Abstractions with Susan Burnstine – 2023

This image was created on the 201st day of 2023 while attending the “New Mexico Abstraction” workshop at Santa Fe Workshops, taught by Susan Burnstine. The vantage point for this particular sunset included the Jemez Mountains.

The sky was ablaze with hues of orange, pink, and the dark outlines of the mountains in the distance. Using my iPhone, and the Slow Shutter app, I was able to capture the essence of the moment, preserving the beauty of the sunset in a way that felt almost magical, while incorporating techniques learned from Susan.

In that moment, my mindset was one of awe and gratitude for being able to observe and capture such a breathtaking scene. It reminded me of the countless sunsets (and sunrises) I’ve witnessed across different landscapes, each one unique yet equally captivating, and the joy of being present in those moments.

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Made during White Sands and Bosque del Apache: Capture to Print with Tony Bonanno – 2023

I came to Santa Fe Workshops after seeing some work of Tony Bonanno online then discovering that he was an instructor on some workshops I was interested in. One of my early experiences was this morning at White Sands National Park after a strong and unpleasant windstorm the previous evening. The light, just after sunrise, was a memorable crystalline, shining glow on the dunes that had been wiped completely clean of footprints by the wind. The shot would not have been possible under normal circumstances. Entry to the park, far earlier than public hours, allowed us to see this light and this sand. This photo is my attempt at depicting the beauty of that stunning morning.

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Made during Modern Montage: A Master Class with Maggie Taylor – 2021

In this digital collage, reality takes a gentle leap into the surreal. An elk stands regally adorned in turquoise, its antlers blooming into an entire desert world—complete with cacti, thistles, hot air balloons, curious creatures, and a cozy adobe nestled among the branches. It’s a celebration of the wild imagination, where ecosystems and stories grow from the unexpected.

I built this image by weaving together some of my own photographs, layering them like memories or dreams until they formed a world that feels both magical and oddly familiar. Working in digital collage allows me to bend time and space, turning the ordinary into the enchanted. The process is part puzzle, part poem—placing textures, light, and color until they hum in harmony.

This piece invites the viewer to step into a place where nature wears jewelry and animals hold secrets. It’s a playful reflection on how landscapes live in us, how whimsy can be a form of reverence, and how photography—when freed from realism—can tell stories that are truer than fact.

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