My images begin life as photographs. However, rather than depicting reality, they have a painterly quality. There is an element of fantasy about them.

Most of my pieces were originally captured digitally. A variety of optical means were used to create an image quite different from what the eye sees. And most of the images were further manipulated. This enables great artistic freedom in the design and creation of the final image.

I restrict and modify the color palette to emphasize mood, create mystery. and reveal the personality of the subject. To further simplify a visually complex image I may remove color almost entirely, leaving only a warm or cold tone. Warm highlights with cold shadows gives a feeling of strong contrast.

I create imaginary worlds. Blur and glow gives a dream-like quality. I stretch, shrink, warp, and push pixels around to create a distorted reality. Sometimes I overlay images with variations of themselves for an otherworldly effect. I experiment with symmetry to create unreal scenes or objects. Some images hint at a hidden life of everyday objects and scenes.

The "kitchen" series of photographs were captured in my little tabletop studio. The subjects were a small tomato with personality, from the garden, and various items from the kitchen. The basic compositions were created optically, and I digitally achieved the desired colors and tones.

For me, photography is just the beginning of a process of creating images. The rest is imagination.