A long career
Relaunching my website has come with a great deal introspection. When I was in my twenties I was enthralled with almost any kind of image making, and joyfully accepted any project I was offered. My hubris, tenacity and perfectionism in tandem with my technical training generally got me by. But I knew that I didn't want to spend my life in a studio in NYC. I wanted to see the world, to have grand adventures. I was drawn to situations that were a challenge to survive let alone make an eye stopping image. I was inspired by the idea of trying distill the sweat, strain, fear, drudgery, pain and exhilaration of an adventure into a few striking images. That's how I spent my 30's and 40's. I hope to write about some of those experiences in the months ahead.
Now, though, I fear many adventures are behind me, my badly abused knees can no longer tolerate a 20 mile day with a100 lbs on my back. While I still enjoy exotic locations and certain adventures (I will never tire of shooting underwater), I find my inner eye turning to other interests: The challenge of bringing to life concepts that are invisible on this plane of existence like my angel to the right or exploring nuances of human quirkiness. I can get lost in a garden with a macro lens for two hours of good light and the human form in all it's variety and glory is endlessly fascinating. In other words I think I may be back to a well seasoned version of my twenties. The pure joy of making images for the sake of making images is back and I couldn't be happier.
The day I fell in love with nature.
Back in 2000 I was on assignment for National Geographic Adventure and found myself in the Indian Ocean, floating off the Ningaloo Reef of Australia. I was swimming through waters, thick with plankton with nothing but my mask, snorkel, fins and of course my Nikon.
Suddenly a school bus sized Whale Shark with a mouth about 6 feet wide appears. Even though I know that these sharks feed off of plankton, my lizard brain just sees a really, really big shark headed in my direction.
I took one last breath and dove down to the sharks level and began shooting. It was coming straight at me so I started swimming, furiously, backwards to keep it in frame. I continued shooting, naively thinking the shark would turn away.
At the last second, almost out of breath, when it became clear the shark was not going to turn, I tucked the camera into my chest so I wouldn’t hurt the shark, and ducked below it’s mouth.
As I rolled down it’s belly I wondered how hard the tail was going to hit me and if I would still be conscious when it did. Luckily for me, I passed the tail, unscathed.
When I climbed onto the waiting boat to change film the captain told me that the shark had risen up in the water column and stopped finning as it’s tail passed me, That whale shark was trying to avoid hurting me.
That moment ended up being my second cover for National Geographic Adventure. This very close encounter with this obviously sentient, and empathetic being, further cemented my love for the oceans and all their magnificent creatures.
Our actions, our decisions, are imperiling all life on earth. Everything about that must change.
Right now Whale sharks are currently vulnerable to extinction, the indo pacific population has decreased by 63% in the last 75 years. Phytoplankton, the building block of the oceanic food chain, is rapidly decreasing. Climate change, overfishing, excessive nutrient runoff, oil spills and other types of pollution are making the vast oceans untenable to almost all forms of life. At the same time plastic pollution is filling the stomachs of creatures of every size. At our current rate we will have effectively killed the oceans by 2048.
