A Bit Of Biography
Introducing Walden.
There are many stories to tell about the growth of my interest in photography beginning when I was about eight and learning to use a Brownie Hawkeye. However music also began at this time with piano lessons and as I reflect back it is difficult to separate music and photography; they were intertwined from the beginning.
However music (along with electronics) soon took the lead. I was an audiophile during my teen years which led to engineering and MIT and while trying solid state physics for my MS degree, I realized my passion for music was too strong which led to my knocking on the office door of Prof. Amar G. Bose. Prof. Bose became my faculty advisor but after seven years at “the institute,“ I chose to stop one dissertation short of a PhD. When I broke the news to Prof. Bose there was an instant job offer and I became the 5th (as in number 5) employee of Bose Corporation.
Photography overlapped 23 years at Bose Corporation where I designed and marketed loudspeakers for the home. But there was some synchronicity happening, for my transition from engineering to marketing included working closely and even directing the best professional photographers in Boston. The process of creating photographic images eventually became irrestiable, albeit of the natural landscape rather than commercial products.
I purchased a 4" x 5" view camera in 1974 and from that year until 2022, when I am writing this, photography has been my passion. I love capturing the miracles of nature that I find in unexpected places and I love making highly detailed prints that can transform a space.
However, music has continued its importance. I continue to play classical music on the piano, I married Susan Ziegler, a choral music major and for years, being exceedingly fortunate in the home and piano we found, we gave house concerts in a room with six 40" by 50" prints (now including a 40" x 115" print). A fine Bose music system is at our side at the kitchen table.
In the course of the 28 years I came to favor certain locations that presented something different every time I visited. The images below are of the same vernal pool as in the foreword but almost exactly two years later. The visit to Walden was suggested by Susan’s colleagues at the Massachusetts Parks Department.
Water-shields , Wyman’s Meadow, Walden October 1993, cat. 4062
Water-shields, Detail , Wyman’s Meadow, Walden October 1993, cat. 4062 D10
A favorite example happened one Saturday when I was in my gallery/lab in Worcester, Massachusetts. Despite a light rain I thought of what might be happening near Walden Pond where the image in the foreward was made.
I hiked in early afternoon and stopped at the vernal pool. The image above was ready to be photographed except there was no sun and I had to go into the water to get close enough. So I hung a bag of film holders on my shoulder, waded in–the water was only about a foot deep–and set up the tripod and began to frame and focus the image. As I was working the clouds began to clear and a delicate light illuminated the water-shields and their dew drops.
Above is a detail from the image.
I kept shooting until the sun was low in the sky and a whole different image developed. The sun was now reflected in the water, but the sky was now dark as was the water. It was a marvelous afternoon. Click here to see a gallery of all the images from that afternoon.
