Tell us a little about yourself.

I grew up in the New England factory town of Torrington CT, and moved to the south-central Adirondacks in 1979. After staying home with my children when they were small, I attended community college in Johnstown and got a job at Quad/Graphics in Saratoga. I had a successful career; scanning, color-correcting and retouching for magazines and catalogs for more than 10 years. 

How did you get started in photography?

As part of my visual communications curriculum, I took photography classes in college. I seemed to have some natural talent and was lucky to have Frank Ambrose, an incredible instructor who was able to convey the importance of taking a photograph that would look good in print. This ethos continued at Quad, getting the correct tonal range from film to scan so that the image will look good on paper.

When you began you did mostly nature photography...

Yes, nature is so available! Since I live in the Adirondacks, that is where I started. I became fascinated with water because it was always changing. Still ponds, misty lakes, roaring falls, rain, ice... water offers such variety from season to season, day to day, even minute to minute! I still look for quiet beauty or interesting things up here in the woods and still like sharing them with others.

Now you are doing digital manipulations?

A photographer attempts to capture what he sees, an artist has his own reality! My overlay work is intended to bring some of what I think and how I feel to my photographs, to add some complexity to what can often be a simple process. I am not manipulating to make a bad photo better. I am trying to create artwork using the tools that suit me best, a camera and a computer.

Future projects?

For the coming year, 2008, I am going to concentrate on photographing motion, capturing small swipes of time instead of small moments; people moving, plants swaying in the wind, "drive-by shootings".........seeing and capturing the art and poetry of motion.