As we leave one century for the next, and a new millennium, photography is challenged just as we all are in times of great and rapid change. We are challenged to move ahead and incorporate the beneficial developments without losing the good so painstakingly accomplished by those who have gone before.

We have and are seeing advances from manual to automatic to digital photography. Some camera makers promise hardware so good that it guarantees perfect pictures every time. All serious photographers know it requires his or her thinking, ability and experience to make truly fine photographs. The work of earlier master photographers should tell us that the camera without the knowing eye will not foster the inspiration to yield great photographs.

Automobiles of today have advanced from those of the early days, but they still incorporate four wheels, seats for the passengers and a motor. By the same token the good of traditional photography should be kept if we are to insure the rich art form it can provide. Is it good to produce only completely automatic equipment? What effect would too much ease and convenience have on the learning that provides the basis for creativity? One must study a subject before making the photograph and the deliberate approach demanded by traditional photography also encourages study of all the facets of the scene that contribute to a superior photograph.

My work tries to explore the land and the impact of man and his activities on it. It is a conservation message, but one which also tries to recognize the needs of humans on the land. I find the conservation message of Charles Lindbergh compelling, that we must adopt human activities and projects that are within the limitations of the natural world upon which all of us rely, in order to pass along a viable world to our children and theirs.