The poet Mary Oliver invited us to 

“Pay Attention.

Be Astonished. 

Tell About It.”

I rejoice in the visual world, especially nature.  I  have pursued many ways to make my subject look more real than real in order to bring greater attention and meaning to it.  I have drawn and painted on paper and canvas, taken conventional photographs, and painted and drawn on photographs to inspire wonder in the everyday.  

When I entered the realm of infrared photography, I found that the familiar is not so familiar.  An infrared camera sensor is able to capture light invisible to the unaided human eye.  I use digital tools to refine that light, as in the way darkroom chemicals generate what one originally saw through the camera lens.  Live green foliage reflects infrared rays, and thus appear white or very light in infrared.  Blue skies and water absorb infrared rays, so they appear black. While I have been photographing in infrared for several years, there is still a mystery to the medium which I love. I never quite know how the picture is going to appear until I click the shutter and then process it digitally. 

My photographic journey began when I inherited my father’s Argus C3 rangefinder camera in high school. In graduate school at the University of Michigan, I studied with photographer Joanne Leonard, who encouraged me to combine photography with drawing, painting, and collage.  After graduate school, I pursued other photography media, including Polaroid transfers.  This medium again allowed me to combine drawing, painting, and collage with photography.

In 2014, seeking other ways to portray the world, I began to shoot in infrared photography using converted digital SLR cameras.  I learned invaluable shooting and editing techniques from infrared masters Laurie Klein and Kyle Klein Perler. I process each image in Photoshop and various Photoshop plug-in filters to bring it to its fullest potential of sharpness, clarity, softness, color, contrast, and value range, depending on what is most appropriate for the expressive nature of the individual image. I may spend hours processing a single image before finally saving and printing it. 

Selected Exhibitions

Steep Rock Association,  Juried Group Exhibit,  100th Anniversary Exhibit at Spring Hill Vineyards in New Preston, CT, September 2025. 

Five Points Gallery, Juried Group Exhibit, “Small Works,” Torrington, CT,  July 2025,  Jill Enfield, Juror. 

Black Box Gallery, Juried Group Exhibit, Focus: Trees and Water, Portland, Oregon, May 2025, Todd Johnson, Juror. 

Arts Connected Showcase, Juried Group Exhibit, Northwest Connecticut Arts Council, Washington Depot, April 2025.

Members’ Show,  Juried Group Exhibit, Washington Art Association, Washington Depot, CT, March 2025, Jane Eckert, Juror. 

Five Points Gallery, Juried Group Exhibit, “Small Works,” Torrington, CT, November 2024, Steven Holmes, Juror. 

Photo Place Gallery, Juried Group Exhibit, “Landscape,” Middlebury, VT, October 2024, Ann Jastrab, Juror. 

Arty Party Benefit Exhibit for East Mountain House,  Juried Group Exhibit, White Hart Inn, June 2024, Elizabeth Macaire, Curator. 

Oliver Wolcott Library,  Juried Joint Exhibit, “Land & Sky,” with printmaker Sally Frank, Litchfield, CT, April-May 2024.

Photo Place Gallery, Juried Group Exhibit, “The Decisive Moment,” Middlebury, VT, September 2023, Aline Smithson, Juror. 

Indian Mountain School, Themed Juried Group Exhibits, Lakeville, CT, April 2023, February 2019, and February 2018. 

Serendipity Gallery,  Juried Group Exhibit, Litchfield, CT, April-June, 2019. 

Loft Artists Association, “The Shape of Memories,”  Juried Group Exhibit, Stamford, CT, August-September 2019. 

Harwinton Public Library, Solo Exhibit, Harwinton, CT, September-October 2019.

Loft Gallery, The Smithy, Solo Exhibit, New Preston, CT, August 2017. Curator: Susan Newbury. 

Litchfield Historical Society, Miniature Marvels, Group Exhibit, May 2017.

Oliver Wolcott Library,  Solo Exhibit, Summer 2016.

Center for Photographic Art, Members’ Juried Exhibit, Carmel, CA, Richard Gadd, Juror, 2015.

University of Connecticut, Juried Group Exhibit, Greater Hartford Campus, 2008. 

Common Ground, Solo Exhibit, Litchfield, CT,  April 2010. 

Haight-Brown Vineyard, Solo Exhibit, Litchfield, CT, January 2008.

Schumacher Gallery, Westover School, Solo Exhibit, January 2005. 

Oliver Wolcott Library, Solo Exhibit, Litchfield, CT, August 2004.

Awards

Purchase of Five Limited Edition Photographs for Art in Public Spaces, State of Connecticut, Public Art Collection, Litchfield Judicial District Courthouse at Torrington, CT. 

Ferguson, Sherr, Rea Awards $500 Second Prize,, Photography, Washington Art Association,  Juried Group Exhibit, Members’ Show, Washington Depot, CT, March 2025, Jane Eckert,  Juror. 

“Water- An Art Contest and Exhibit Celebrating Water,” $5000 First Prize for “Innisfree Waterfall,” at Indian Mountain School, Lakeville, CT, February 2018. Sandra Boynton, Agnes Gund, Craig F. Starr, Jurors. 

38th Annual Spring Contest, Finalist, Photographer’s Forum, for “Bereft Tree, Plunge Pool,” 2018. 

38th Annual Spring Contest, Finalist, Photographer’s Forum, for “Ali, Hudson, NY,” 2017

Education

Master of Fine Arts, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1989. 

Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1982.

Additional Study: 

Maine College of Art, June 2014.

Study with Infrared Photographer Laurie Klein, Spring 2014. 

Vermont Studio Center, August 1986. 

Cleveland Institute of Art, Summer Program in Lacoste, France, 1985. 

Parsons School of Design, Summer Program in Paris and Tuscany, 1984.