My choice of subject matter is not people but objects close to people reflecting their lives, their existence, and the finiteness of that existence. Aging homes and barns, and objects of our everyday lives.


For me art and representational photography are different - and (I hope) I do both. My 'art' uses black and white negatives to print using watercolour paints by a method similar to silk screen printing and called "Gum Printing" (see "What are Gum Prints?"). I use the process because of the uniqueness of each print - differences in brushstrokes, pigments, the number of layers, printing time, water temperature and many other factors combine to make unique prints. My prints reflect not only my choice of image and my interpretation in production but also the hand of nature as well as my hand.

I use large (8x10) and ultra-large (12x20) format in-camera negatives, modern and old (1870-1900) lenses, film and paper negatives, high quality watercolour papers, Winsor & Newton artists watercolour paints, and a lot of time to produce my prints.


I also produce traditional colour photographic prints (Velvia / Fuji Crystal) of rusting and deteriorating steel panels - the objects themselves are "modern art painted by nature". Not only are these objects beautiful but the subject matter raises the question "if art is made by random actions, is it art?". Turning the situation round, "if I can infinitely reproduce the same print by the press of a button, are those prints art?".