My photography is a response to an irresistible call to engage with certain scenes in this world on a deeper level. It is the difference between standing at the edge of a cool stream on a hot day and jumping in. It is intimate conversation where before there was only silence.

While growing up in the American West I found myself absorbed in moments when perfect light would pour color into land and sky and infuse vast panoramas with a drama that never lasted long enough to completely satisfy me. It was like a scent I couldn’t breathe enough of, like sage after rain, and then that color would drain and move on before I was ready to let it go. Taking a camera in hand was only logical, but the transition from breathless snapshot to careful composition was several years in the making, and it hinges on a single photo.

In the summer of 2005 I worked as a guide in my hometown of Pinedale, Wyoming. I was taking two clients into the wilderness by horseback from the Green River Lakes trailhead early one morning when one of them asked to stop for a photo so we pulled up along the trail. I took my point-and-shoot Olympus D-540 from my saddle bag and, from horseback, shot a single frame. I call this photo Sunrise on Squaretop Mountain and still keep it here on the site. This image, more than any other, drew me into the pursuit of photography and I've been looking for more like it ever since.

Since that summer, I've learned photography and photo-processing through voracious reading and prolific shooting. I've experimented with portraits and investigated commerical photography, but the natural world is the subject which moves me most and a high quality fine art print is my preferred method for expressing it.

Credits

To God, without whom I would have neither life, ability nor subject to shoot. Thank you for everything lovely you have created in this ever-changing, living work of art we call Earth.

To my wife, Lorraine, who has endured long moments roadside in a car with screaming children while I poured over some scenic wonder with my camera. Thank you for your patience and enduring support. Even though you call my camera, La Otra, you are still the only one.

To Dave, Maggie and Miriam at Fine Arts Gallery. Thanks for the instruction and the opportunity to work in the art world for a time. It was at your gallery that I really discovered what kind of photographer I wanted to be.

Gary, the space on your server has been indespensable. Thanks for your generousity.

John, thanks for the sweet upgrade from a homemade to professional website.

The Fine Print

I graduated from Pinedale High School in 1998, attended Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming for a year and joined the Navy in August, 1999. I’ve been a logger, janitor, wilderness guide, unsuccessful vacuum salesman, custom framer, art reproduction tech and Navy Diver. I lived in Italy for four years while in the Navy and moved to Ogden, Utah in 2004 with my new bride, Lorraine, to attend Weber State University. In 2007 I graduated with a double major in English and Anthropology. A month later I rejoined the Navy and now live in Hawaii with my wife and our two daughters. I can expect to move, travel and shoot photos for the rest of my career and beyond. I hope you visit the site from time to time to see the images I find along the way.

Thanks for visiting DreamWest Photography.
Camden