I am a freelance photographer, author, art educator and radio producer whose primary work focuses on art, indigeneity and the environment. The landscape of the American West and the relationship people have with it figures largely in all of my work. Community and Communication are also primary themes. All of my work involves the continuum of human expression. My initial passion was for landscape photography. Since high school I wanted to have (and now have had) photographs published and sold by the National Parks. Moving to the Navajo Reservation in 1978 set free some thoughts on the relationship between people and place. They are forever entwined in my way of thinking, one influences the other, and I take as much pride and interest in my work with people as I do with the land. While I engage in what is often called fine art and commercial photography, I tend to think of myself as a blue-collar photographer. I get the job done whether for a client or myself. I wake up thinking "Life! Great!" and sometimes find a way to express the joy of it through a photograph. At other times it's expressed by hiking, rafting or just washing dishes! The making of a photograph is like having a good conversation with a new or old lasting friend. Whether the subject is rock, tree or human, the process is the same. The photographer, subject, materials, equipment all contribute to create a mutually realized idea. I view photography as a life practice, a way of being. Active seeing is not something I turn on and do only when holding a camera; it's part of the art of living.

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