Information:
Artist Statements:
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Artist Statement: About the National Geographic Photographs
"Out Beyond Doors"
What I remember about growing up is that I was always outside…wandering through woods, lying in the grass…looking up; or sitting in a tree…looking down.
During those early years in school, my eyes would always be glued to the window…daydreaming about being out beyond those windows, and then watching the clock, waiting to get out the door.
But there was one day in the classroom I do remember clearly, because the curtains on the windows were closed.
I was in the 4th grade, about to see my 1st slide show. It was career day at my school and a photographer from National Geographic had come out from nearby Washington, DC telling us about his job, and showing slides from his recent trip to the Arctic.
I was mesmerized. Not just by the Images, but also by the idea that this guy’s job was OUTSIDE, and in strange far away places.
Then it clicked that this was the same deal as that yellow magazine I was always seeing on my parents’ coffee table at home.
I was 9 years old; the seed was sown; the dream floating around somewhere in the back of my head.
However, for whatever reason, another 9 years passed before I ever pressed the shutter button of a camera. Then, on my 18th birthday, I got a Polaroid camera, and from that first “click and whir,” I was hooked. It was one of the most natural feelings I’d ever had.
Then strangely enough, another 9 years passed from that first Polaroid moment, and I found myself walking into National Geographic with a summer photo internship, fresh out of Journalism School.
Now, many years later, I find myself wandering forests and fields again, drawn by the natural light that defines, shapes, and brings life to landscapes.
My passion is photographing these landscapes, and the way wildlife interacts with these environments.
I’m not so interested in close, descriptive pictures, with “every feather in place” like an Audubon painting, as I am in portraying the “big picture.”
I want to photograph landscapes that could be from this year, or a thousand years in the past; or perhaps with good grace, a thousand years in the future.
Of course, there’s a flip side of the coin, and that would be when wildlife tangles with the modern world…looking for a bite to eat in our backyard…crossing our roads on their way to greener pastures…or pausing to take a handout from a well-meaning observer.
Working for National Geographic offers you the opportunity to pursue these images. They offer you the time necessary to become a part of the place you’re photographing.
You have a greater chance to discover those special places, and then time to wait for all the parts and pieces to fall into place…
Like…when it’s late in the afternoon and the sun is getting low…soft white clouds are passing through a big blue sky, defining distant mountain peaks… and you pause in your walk through a meadow because the grass is glowing with luminescent light, and you know there must be a moment near at hand. Your eye catches a watery sparkle from a nearby creek, and you pause, waiting.
Then…without a sound… a deer steps from the forest to the water and drinks. The world slows down, almost stopping…the only sounds you hear are the music of the creek, the whisper of the wind, and your own breathing. And then…perhaps, the click of the camera’s shutter.
Moments like these allow me to make sense of an often-chaotic and confusing world. By composing the natural elements, choosing lenses, fiddling with gadgets and waiting for the precise light for the finishing touch…I preserve through the camera’s eye. I have slowed the spinning world down, if only for a moment.
In these photographs, I might catch a glimpse…an insight…maybe some understanding as to why I’m here.
And through these photographs, I can share what I’ve seen, with you, the viewer.
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National Geographic Photographs