I believe we are profoundly affected by the landscape of our childhood. It establishes our sense of space and how we fit into it, and we recognize as familiar those places encountered later in life which resemble it. I was born in Iowa, and grew up in the southeast corner near the Mississippi River in an area of limestone bluffs and wooded ravines, but travels to the west made me aware of endless space and gently rising and falling open fields. These are the landscapes which serve as my point of reference when I photograph in other parts of the world. I think Iowa and its openness made me aware of the horizon and sensitive to smaller variations in the land’s surface.
I use a film camera and develop and print the film in my own darkroom. I enjoy the process of printing, and as I have done it for a long time, it seems the best way for me to create a good print. I like the simplication that black and white allows, as it suits my purpose of creating direct and clear views of the land as I see it.