Don's Artist Statement

I have grown up around art. My Mother and sister studied art, and my wife, Jan, is a professional artist. Our children are all artistic, each in a different way. Therefore, I have always found that art is a natural way of life.

I photograph what I photograph because I see what I see. Sometimes I see what was there, sometimes I see what is there, and sometimes I see what I believe should be there. My negatives then become my instrument of creation, so the print becomes what I felt or wanted to be there.

I have studied fine art photography under internationally recognized artists such as Michael Kenna, John Sexton, George Tice and Howard Bond. I have met with two renowned French photographers, Lucien Clerque , co-founder of the Ecole National De La Photographie in Arles, France, and Jean Pierre Sudre, who has been photographing professionally since the 1940s. I have attended nature photographic workshops with Bill Thomas, Rod Plank and John Gerlach, and have conducted local workshops and seminars on nature and fine art photography.

I have exhibited nationally, won awards throughout Michigan, and have had work published in books and magazines. A nature video I produced on the polar bears of Manitoba won an international award.

Don's book featuring the Pacific Northwest may be viewed and purchased at the following link.

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/168800

If you would like to contact Don, please email rivertownartists@hotmail.com.