“No matter how slow the film, Spirit always stands still long enough for the photographer it has chosen” (Minor White, a prominent 20th C American photographer). Photography, for me, is more than a physical, technical process. To make a photograph is to savor life intensely, every fraction of a second. For many years, I wandered in search of a bounty, seeking subjects at those special moments when the natural light is at its best, bringing back a harvest of images that live and speak for themselves. My itinerary often seemed to fit Lao Tzu’s concept that “a good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.”

Resting from my wandering, my walking, I began to understand what a privilege it had been to photograph what I deem aspects of White’s Spirit – something larger than subject or photographer. Thus, for the past seventeen years I have worked to publish a significant number of these images: portraits of people, flowers, and landscapes. Such a joy to relive the experience, share the experience, with printed color images. To expand this experience, I decided to assemble this Ode to Beauty with a collection of images and ideas.
For my portraits, whether flowers or people, after finalising the setup, my last request of the subject is “Talk to me”. I wait until the conversation starts and then capture a privileged moment.

For the portraits that follow I invite you to join the conversation.