My Mission
A blossoming plum tree in the orchard of our Minnesota farm is the first photograph I made with a dusty Kodak Brownie camera I found in the closet. I was 10 years old and mesmerized by the framed tree in the viewfinder. The image! A fascination that has seized me for a lifetime.
So began my career as a photojournalist for the past 47 years. It started in local newspapers as a teenager, then national publications and corporate marketing, covering topics ranging from sports to auto accidents and fires, to agriculture, politicians and international reportage. Today, I am a Santa Fe, New Mexico-based photographer and writer capturing the marvelous light, landscape and historic cultures of America’s great Southwest.
By the age of 14 I had graduated to a sophisticated 35mm camera and I had a basement darkroom. I mastered the skill of threading film onto a developing reel without ruining the negatives (no easy task!). I also became a master printer in that darkroom.
One spring Sunday I invited my grandmother into the darkroom to demonstrate the skills I had developed with the equipment her money helped buy. Under the orange safelight in the dark basement, I exposed an image in the enlarger. We watched the image dissolve into resolution in the developer. I pulled the wet print from the hypo, turned on the white light and asked, “What do you think, Grandma?”
Her reply: “Well, I think a young man of your age should be out in the fresh air!”
Needless to say, I have, indeed, had plenty of fresh air chasing light over the years. As soon as I received my driver’s license at 16 I started shooting sports for the Fairmont Sentinel, our local daily newspaper. I thrived on the deadlines and thrilled at seeing my work in the next day’s paper.
The newspaper’s editor advised me that if I wanted a journalism career, I’d best consider the University of Missouri School of Journalism. And so I did. There, I met kindred souls in my classmates as we competed to produce the “grooviest images” of the day. They are dear friends to this day.
PHOTOJOURNALISM
My professional career in photojournalism began in 1980 with a two-year stint at the Missoulian in Missoula, Montana. I returned home to Minnesota in 1982 to farm with my father. I continued to photograph his life as a farmer, a project I had begun in college. I documented his life for the next two decades until he retired in the 1990s.
As I farmed with him, I also started freelancing for the agricultural magazines and I applied for grants to help fund my documentary projects. The 1980s were a vibrant decade for my photography.
When I wasn’t farming and photographing Dad, I was working on other personal documentary projects. I started photographing the lives and landscape in rural Minnesota. I spent parts of two winters photographing in Haiti. I dedicated much of my time to documenting the farm financial crisis of the mid-80s—the farmer protests and their tractorcades and the farm families who were facing foreclosure.
Farm Journal Magazine was a young photojournalist’s dream job.
In 1987 I received a McKnight Foundation Photography Fellowship to help complete the rural crisis project. Just as I started in on that fellowship, Farm Journal Magazine invited me to their Philadelphia headquarters to interview for the job of Photo Editor. Despite the McKnight, I accepted the job in Philly and finished the fellowship with occasional trips back to the Midwest.
Farm Journal Magazine was a young photojournalist’s dream job. Once again I was surrounded by a fun, smart group of kindred souls—all deeply devoted to the issues of American agriculture. As I marshaled a force of some 50 freelance photographers across the country, I had the opportunity to travel across the U.S. and internationally on photography and writing assignments. We covered the WORLD of agriculture and, wherever I went, I was constantly shooting—on assignment and off—always looking for the telling image.
Fine Art Photography
Later in my career, after my decade in Philly, I freelanced for a bevy of publications and corporate communication departments. But my heart always was with my personal projects—my fine art photography.
Santa Fe
So, that brings me to Santa Fe, now, where once again I have the freedom I had in the 1980s to pursue the personal art projects that motivate and inspire me. Here, in the Land of Enchantment, my photography and writing focuses on the landscape and people of the Southwest with its vibrant color and classic, ancient history.
The Work
Enjoy these galleries, which represent the scope of my career. In our online store I have prints and notecards available for your secure purchase. Check out the FAQ section of this site for information on print sizes, formats and shipping. And, please contact me with any questions! Gracias!