Fine Art Alberta Photographer

We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.
– Anais Nin

I am a picture maker. I think I’ve always been one. I am also a dreamer. From as far back as I can remember I’ve occupied my time with making pictures as an escape from a sometimes harsh world. Pictures that often represented a bygone era or way of life far removed from reality.

I was born in Calgary, Alberta. Although raised in the city, I spent as many of my weekends and holidays as possible with relatives in the ranching areas of southwestern Alberta where a deep love for western living and nature developed. Art was a major part of my life then. I took my first photograph with my dad’s camera when I was two. I sketched and painted too. As a child, it was rare to see me without a camera or sketchbook.

I studied photography in the late 1980′s, but then spent 14 years working with textiles. It is this work that ultimately lead me right back to photography, which led me back to painting. My work with textiles taught me a lot about color, texture, and form, which I am now able to use in my artistic practice. The use of color and texture led me to the Pictorialist photographers of the late 1800′s early 1900′s and their romantic, impressionist images which helped to shape the direction of my photography today.

I am attempting to create impressions of our world, more so than literal translations. I want to enable viewers to interact with the images by creating their own stories. I want to know how a viewers past, upbringing, and social experiences help to shape their reactions with the images.

“The meaning is not in the object or person or thing, nor in the word. It is we who fix the meaning so firmly that, after a while, it comes to seem natural and inevitable. The meaning is constructed by the system of representation.”
- Stuart Hall

I use a variety of tools in creating my images. In photography I work mostly with digital imaging, I also employ old viewfinder cameras, toy lenses and cameras, and various handmade adaptations to achieve my results in camera. Then I will often use handpainted, natural, and created textures to further alter the mood of the image. The images aren’t truly complete until printed. My choices in printing method and medium are the finishing touch.

In 2009 I was juried in as a full member of the Alberta Society of Artists, an organization my great great uncle Frederick George Cross was a charter member of. My images are influenced by such artist’s as F.G. Cross, Henry Peach Robinson, Alfred Stieglitz, Frederick George Ashton, William Notman, Cornelius Krieghoff, A.Y. Jackson, William Turner, and others.

My fine art prints are featured in the Westin Hotel (Abu Dhabi, UAE; San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA), Callaway Garden Spa & Resort (Georgia, USA), Brush Creek Ranch (Wyoming, USA), Ritz Carlton Hotel (Florida, USA), University Hospital (Edmonton, AB), and private collections in Canada, USA, UK, France, Italy, Sweden, and Australia.

A selection of my work is licensed by First Light (Canada) and Millennium Images (UK), and Soho Myriad (London, Atlanta, LA). I also license work independently for local design projects and stock usage through Pictorialist Photo. Open edition prints are available from my shop, while select hand signed photographs and original works are available through Burnaby Art Gallery Rental & Sales (Canada), Art Interiors (Canada), and this website.

Original Canadian Paintings

In painting I am most drawn to acrylics, oils, and watercolors, but I do experiment with other mediums as well. I am very much on an experimental path of creating, learning, adapting, refining, with the end goal to express the emotions I experience in nature. I don’t strive to capture the exact scene in my images. I want to capture a feeling, allowing the viewer to feel a sense of grandeur and awe, and maybe even a touch of loneliness. I want the viewer to get a sense of power while seeing the quiet beauty which exists around every corner. Portraying a strong sense of emotion is my ultimate goal.