What about me? What can I say??

Well I'm an old cowhand...only kidding! But I live in the hills of western Massachusetts and we do have a pony and a donkey but no cows yet. I live with my wife Cynthia (mosaic artist extraordinary, check out her web site BIGBANGMOSAICS.com) and my two children Rory, age 13, Mr. Sports and Kiera, age 16, horse girl. And of course the dogs, Luna on the left and Cael on the right! This is a 2005 image but I like it and it masks those gray hairs!!!Plus the young Einstein look thanks to a bit of wind.

This is also a great 2005 image of the family with the lovely Cindy, yes my true love!

Last summer in 2007 we did a home exchange in Northern Finistere, Brittany, France. This western part of Brittany is an area where one can still hear the ancient celtic language of Brezoneg which is related to Welsh. We were there for three weeks and one night had dinner with friends of our home exchangers. Erwin is a master teacher of this ancient language and his wife Muriel works for a Breton televison channel. They made us a feast of with scallop crepes and dishes I've never heard of before. As we were trying out our French and Muriel her english we realized that they were speaking Brezoneg to each other, talk about going back in time. WOW!!! They even have started a bilingual school (Diwan) to keep this anicent culture and language alive. Great people and a great dinner. And there is nothing quite like the Breton Music. Below are we are checking out a Dolem on the western part of Finistere.

We did our exchange with the Michel a writer and TV director, Genevieve a translator and actress and there son Malo. They live on one of the three fjord-like indentations that scar the coastline of Northern Finistere. These estuaries are called Abers and the Treguer"s live on Aber Wrac'h. This image is a view from there house into the Arber. What a place to live!!! At some point I'll have images from Brittany on the site but for now you will fine them at the fair I do.

Another view of the Arber and the Treguers house which one can fish off there deck as the high tide comes to there garden wall.

Had to include this image of Cindy on her rental bike in Paris. It was a gas, the whole family rented bikes and biked through all that traffic in Paris, but they have lots of bike lanes there and quite a bit more respect for cyclist.

And I must include an image from the 2007 Tour de France. We watched it on french TV for weeks and finally got to see them come into Paris. a dream come true for Cindy. These guys were so fast it all seemed like a blurr!

Back to the home life below and here we have the girls, Agnes the 900 pound pony (she looks smaller here) and Lucille the mamoth donkey who weighs in at around 500 pounds and is quite a handful!

The image below is our post & beam straw bale barn. The donkey & pony are in the stable on the lower right below Cynthia's mosaic studio.

I've been a builder, a pre-school teacher, sawmill and restaurant owner and for the last 18 years, a professional photographer. Working in documentary, architectural, and landscape photography. In 1991 while trying to keep up with my biking wife Cynthia on a two month bike trip of Ireland and Britain I started photographing the landscape, villages and people of the area. This led to me focusing in on the landscape photography I now do in the Ireland and Britain. I try and get over every year or so and spend at least three to four weeks photographing. From early morning until the sun goes down I'm driving, biking, hiking, and chatting with the locals over a few pints. It's through this kind of exploring that I find my next image. When the light is right I head back to the area, photographing mostly in the wee hours of the morning or in the twilight. Most of the time I concentrate on one area and that way I get to know the landscape and the people.

When I am back here printing, I try and remember the feelings I had while taking the photographs. I take notes when I'm in the field as to what the atmosphere was like and how it influenced me. For instance did the weather break or did I get soaked? How did the light affect the color on a building or on a distant mountaintop? Did I hike for three hours not to find anything or did I come across some standing stones over the next hill? Or the times I've been in ancient bluebell oak forests listening to the wind and thought I heard whispering. Must have been the drink you say... well there are still places where they believe in the little folk. And I for one won't deny them their due! I feel a strong pull to these ancient places and just maybe I was a Connemara pony in a last life or some rare plant that grows only in the limestone of the Burren in County Clare!

All of this is part of the recipe that goes into the making of the print. I have many a story that goes along with the images and of course that is the one advantage to finding the Celtic Wanderer at one of the many Art festivals throughout the northeast. The stories are free, it just depends on how much you can take. One of my goals in photographing in these Celtic countries is for others to feel a sense of being there and to share in the raw beauty of this very ancient landscape and the remarkable people who make it their home.

My work consists of color landscape photographs of Ireland, Scotland and England. All images are taken with a 4x5 view camera or a 6x7 rangefinder camera on a tripod using Fuji and Kodak color negative or Fujichrome film. I use a handheld light meter to insure that the exposures are right on. The images are then printed by me on Fuji Crystal Archive photographic paper which is tested to last 70 years. Half of the image making is done in the darkroom. All images come in beautiful handmade cherry frames. The print sizes are from 11x14 to 20x24 and prices range from $75.00 to $525.00.

I'm off to Ireland in 2008 for a Spring photography trip as I just signed a contract to do Irish calendar's for the next three years with Sellers Publishing, a calendar company from Maine. Anyone want to come and carry my bags? But really I'm not that weak or old yet!!!