Natural Photography

I first started making photographs in the Spring of 1967 during my Canada Centennial personal project, a cross-Canada hitch-hiking / train trip - armed first with my mother's Kodak Brownie box camera and 126 film.  I had never taken a photograph before that trip.

At the end of the western first half of the trip I bought a Kodak Instamatic with a "yes / no"  light meter (but no ability to adjust the exposure except to use flash, or to use different focal lengths). That camera lasted only until the Charlottetown PEI stop on the eastern half of trip, when I bought my first SLR, a Praktica, probably a Nova (with no built-in meter, but an ability to alter the exposure and take interchangeable lenses with a Pentax screw mount).

Following the Praktica, my next two cameras, also using the Pentax screw mount, were a Mamiya Sekor (500DTL, to gain a built-in light meter) and an Asahi Pentax Spotmatic (used in a photography-seminal 1973 Europe trip) with a couple of lenses, standard and moderate telephoto.  Reasonably-priced off-brand lenses were readily available in the then-ubiquitous screw mount. My first telephoto was the highly-regarded Vivitar Series 1, 70-210 mm.

In about 1975 I started acquiring and using (including on my 1988 Africa  safari) an extensive Canon FD system (pre-EOS, manual focus only) including several camera models (FTb, AE-1, A-1, F-1, F-1n, T-90) and  an extensive collection of lenses and other accessories. This move meant completely changing systems because Canon had its own lens mounting system, a bayonette system, not the screw mount. Since losing significant parts of my Canon gear in a canoe upset in Algonquin Park in Summer 1991, I have been shooting with Nikon. I was influenced in making that significant and costly system switch by rumours of Canon abandoning the camera market in favour of office equipment [Boy, was that wrong!!], and more important by the beginnings of the EOS system which changed the lens mount from the former FD system, making legacy lenses of little if any value (while Nikon was ensuring continuity of its legacy lenses).

I have owned a long string of both film and digital Nikon SLRs (FM2n, F801, F801s, F90, F90x, F4, F4s, F5,  F100, D100, D200, D300, D2x, D700). I made the switch to digital relatively early, in 2003, not long after Nikon's first consumer-oriented digital camera was available in February 2001 (D100). From 2003 until about 2007 I shot both film and digital on most shoots. While I still own the film cameras, the FM2n and  the F100,  as well as two earlier digital versions, the D300 and D700, I  am currently shooting all digital, mostly on a Nikon D810 and D500 (although I also use a waterproof Coolpix for taking on the stream with me on fishing trips). I have an extensive selection of 13 lenses from 14 mm to 500 mm, as well as a selection of teleconverters, close-up equipment, and other accessories for the Nikon system. So OK, yes, I am a "gearhead."

In the beginning I shot only b&w negatives (doing my own processing) but added colour film to the mix for my first overseas adventure, the Summer 1973 Europe trip, and shot mostly, but not exclusively, slides (Kodak and Fuji film) from then until the digital days. I currently have a library of about 40,000 slide images, 10,000 negative images and 17 years of digital images. 

I use Photoshop CC2019, ON1 Photo RAW 2019 and a couple of other modest software programs to process my images and to print them as limited edition archival prints (20-print limit) printed by me on an Epson inkjet printer, numbered, titled and signed. I have had some success selling prints of a variety of subjects, and the gallery of those prints on this web-site is called- "Best Selling Images", to be found under the "Topic Collections" tab.

Over the years I have shot  travel / street photography, portraits and a few weddings, but now, and for a long while, have concentrated mostly on nature images, although still making travel images and occasional portraits.

I am self-taught, although I have attended a couple of lectures, including by one of my earliest influences, well-known Canadian photographer Freeman Patterson, and another with well-known Canadian photographer, Richard Martin. Of course I am indebted to the continuing learning process involved in belonging to a succession of active and competent photography clubs, particularly the RA club in Ottawa. I encourage anyone interested in improving their photography to join a local club.

I was influenced in my early days by the work of Freeman Patterson and nature photographer Tim Fitzharris with whom I used to shoot in our early days. I admire the work of Canadian photographer Richard Martin and nature photographers Art Wolfe, Tom Mangelsen and Andy Rouse. Ansel Adams has been an inspiration. My street photography has been informed by the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson and W Eugene Smith, among others.

I have taught a number of workshops to small groups on nature and macro photography. I take every opportunity to look at and critique the images of other photographers (eg, Photo.net).

I have been a member of the Canadian Association of Photographic Art (CAPA) for more than 45 years (ie, since the time it was called NAPA) and a member of photo clubs almost from the beginning. Those clubs include the Windsor Camera Club, Yellowknife Photo Club, and since about 1989/90, the RA Photo Club in Ottawa. I occasionally give talks at the RA Club, as well as other clubs, on topics related to my photographic work and photography generally. In addition, I act as a judge of competitions at the RA Photo Club, the Camera Club of Ottawa, and recently, on-line for other Canadian photo clubs, for CAPA nationally, and for Canadian Geographic magazine. I am a CAPA certified judge of photography. Other awards and recognitions are listed below:

• Two photos published in "Folio," an arts publication at the University of Western Ontario in 1971.

• Awarded the "Winnifred Lescombe trophy" for 1971, having accumulated most points for monochrome printing at the Windsor Camera Club (where self-printing (wet darkroom) was required).

• Awarded three Certificates of Merit, one Certificate of Distinction, one Certificate of Pictorial Excellence and one 5th prize (among over 20,000 entries) in a year-long, six segment national contest called "Response and Recognition" sponsored by Nikon in 1976/77.

• Donated several framed flower prints that sold well for the "Big Sisters" Art show in Kitchener Ontario in 1978.

• Awarded 3rd place in the Federation of Ontario Naturalists annual photo salon in 1978.

• Awarded one 1st, one 3rd and one 5th place prize for colour prints in the photography section of the Central Ontario Exhibition in Kitchener Ontario in 1981.

• Awarded one 1st and one 5th place prize in the 1985 annual Salon at the Yellowknife Camera Club (NWT).

• Member of RA photo club since moving to Ottawa in 1989. In that club I progressed to Senior photographer, having won a few awards along the way, ie, Intermediate Assignment Award (slides) for 1992/93 and 1993/94, Fall Challenge Award for 1997 and 1998, Take Your Best Shot Award for 1992 and 1997, and Photographer of the Year (slides) for 1993/94 and Photographer of the Year 1996/97, and 1999/00.

• First Master photographer in RA Photo Club's then-65 year history in 2001 (one of four as of 2017).

• Runner-up in the Canadian Geographic magazine photo contest in 2002 (topic: 'Shorelines' ).

• One man show at the National Press Club in Ottawa in 2005.

• Part of a group show at Balderson Gallery in 2006.

• Article called "Hip Boot Photography" published in the Fall 2007 issue of "Canadian Camera" magazine.

• Recognized by the Canadian Association for Photographic Art (CAPA) as a certified judge of photography.