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Most of my creative work has been in photography.  I was an independent photojournalist in Washington, DC for three decades, focusing on politics and campaigns and running the Democracy in Action websites.  Credentialed through the U.S. Senate Press Photographers Gallery, I had a front-row position for happenings in the nation's capitol.  I worked alongside some of the best in the business, learning how to anticipate the flow of events and compose good shots.  After starting out with subpar gear, I also learned the importance of investing in quality equipment and how much of a difference that can make.


A fair bit of my work focuses on highlighting the best works of other artists.  I organized three exhibits on magazine cover portrayal of presidential campaigns, candidates, and presidents.  My objective for these exhibits was to encourage people to think about the various ways in which politicians can be portrayed.  For a cover, an editor, working with an artist, comes up with illustration or a photograph and a few carefully chosen words designed to catch your eye, pique your curiosity, and hopefully get you to buy a copy of the magazine.  The portrayal can be flattering, neutral, or negative.  Each election cycle I gathered several hundred covers; the biggest challenge was finding space to host the exhibits.  Unfortunately many fewer magazines now publish print editions.

I have a keen interest in print media, and put a lot of work into creating and building the Campaign Literature Archive.  This project grew out of my work in political communication.  I wanted to understand what makes an effective print lit. piece; i.e. what works and what doesn't when it comes to designing a campaign brochure or flyer?  Imagine, for example, that you have decided to run for elective office and need to produce a brochure.  What photos or images will you use—a family shot (maybe including the family dog), a shot of you interacting with voters, or just a head shot?  Likewise with the text, how much do you want to include and what points do you want to highlight?  There is an art and a science to designing these materials.

I used to go to the beach frequently on morning runs, and on most days I was able to find several plastic shovels/toys, and sometimes as many as a dozen or more items.  I organized these by color in large boxes and came up with several ideas.  First, I created one large work with plastic fishes for our back room using velcro to attach the fishes to netting.  I envisaged I might produce and sell similar shovel art pieces for people's beach houses or cabanas.   Secondly, I thought about a larger work for a community space or gallery.  Finally, I thought the collection would be good material for kids' projects at summer camp.  However, "real" work intervened.  Eventually I ran out of space and donated the boxes to another artist who does work with found objects.


I really enjoyed taking a class on hand-built ceramics, and would like to do more in this field.  I will admit that 90-percent of what I produced was junk, but with experience I did get better, and we had a great professor.  He ran a first-rate facility and encouraged our creativity.  Whether making pinch pots or learning coil or slab construction, working in three dimensions was refreshing and challenging.  One of my projects was to take two pinch pots, stick them together, and put a hole with a lip on top, producing several very satisfactory vases inspired by squashes.  I also learned that it is quite easy to ruin a good piece with a bad glazing job.  In addition to learning more about glazing, I'd like to learn the wheel, and am also interested in tiles and mosaics.

In addition to my work photography, I've done a lot of personal photography over the years.  My experience at Yosemite National Park during a summer job was seminal in shaping my photographic vision.  The job, making beds at Curry Village was a drag, but in free moments I went out for hikes with my camera, and I stopped in at the Ansel Adams Gallery and became familar with his work.  Film was expensive so it was important to think about framing the shots.  Yosemite provides a great canvas: streaked and worn granite surfaces, dotted with boulders, sustaining a few trees and plants, and maybe sporting a trickle of water, a river, a waterfall or lake.  But the key ingredient was light.  The lighting makes all the difference.  Add puffy clouds in a blue sky, or dramatic storm clouds, or dramatic morning or evening light and wow.


Workbook Pages
My goal in pursuing the postgraduate diploma in visual arts is to expand my horizons beyond photography
and develop an understanding of, and experience with, a range of diverse media and materials.