Artist Statement

As an aspiring photographer in Buffalo, New York, I always wondered what it would be like to meet a whale. I moved north in 1974 to attend the University of Alaska Fairbanks and have been photographing Alaska ever since. My first true encounter with a whale happened in Icy Strait in 1980. A humpback kept tail-slapping until I got within range. With each successive slap, its tail picked up more water, and by the time I pressed the shutter, a beautiful waterfall was cascading down. I have not seen anything like it since.
Photographing Alaska makes for long, hard days, and not every day is a great one. I often visualize a shot and sometimes wait years for the parameters to be just right. Picture the magic of Glacier Bay — a place so raw and wild, always on the edge of newness. Glacier Bay does not present itself easily. It is everywhere and nowhere. I submerge myself in its rhythm and let it come to me. I aim to capture its stark contradictions: complete silence, complemented by the lapping of waves on the beach, overtaken by glacial thunder.

Alaska is a place of solace in a complicated world. Alaska is my story, and the camera is my companion. The time and effort I put into my work allow me to keep reaching for perfection. In the end, I know it will be worth it.