I can’t say that I have a distinct approach to photography.  What I do seems too simple to be called an approach of any sort because I just photograph things I like. Well, “like” isn’t exactly right because I sometimes photograph things I can’t say I like. The point is I don’t go afield with an intent to photograph anything in particular. I just go out to see what happens to show up, and when something does, I aim and click the shutter. It’s more or less a matter of what catches my eye.

What catches my eye sometimes surprises me. I might be fronting an impressive landscape but end up photographing the gnarled roots of a creek side tree or a pattern of stones in the mud. I’m often more interested in the reflections objects cast than in the objects themselves. At musical events, I might find the isolated hands of the guitarist on the strings of the guitar more artistically compelling than the guitarist himself. I’m not aware of planning any of this; I like to let the visual world come to me in its own time and on its own terms. This feels more receptive to me and the sights that arise more like a gift.

Capturing an image artistically expressive of something meaningful to me is the first excitement of photography. The second excitement is discovering if others see in the image what I see or something quite different. Showing a photograph is for me a means of sharing the curious similarities and differences of human perception, a way of communicating with pictures.

Self portrait at the “fish ladder,” One Mile Bridge, Bidwell Park, Chico, Ca.