Waterportrait #1: Stillaguamish River

Water Portrait #1, Stillaguamish River captures the lensing effects of water and its capacity to bringing the colors and forms beneath the water into detailed relief telling the story of the land. Leaving "shadows" of its sinuous currents shaping the river's edge, amplifying flecks of gold colored pyrite, shimmering with the blue -green silt of rock pulverized by mountain glaciers. The first photo in the series, it was this work that set me on a course to understanding the lensing effects of water. How mixing that with shooting technique, could help me understand water as the primary feature of landscape signaling every movement and change in the land in time and over time.

Mineral Tides

Mineral silts tell the story of the nearby hot spring's acidic waters as they dissolve volcanic rock beneath Lassen Volcano.

Solar Lens

Waves created by nearby rapids smooth out collecting the sun as they cancel one another.

Once the Earth

Tree roots float in the current where they once anchored along the banks of the flowing waters.

Peripheries

Water forms the boundary between life and light in the tidal wetland of the Nisqually.

Fossil Filigree

A broken plant head gathers dissolved minerals on its stems as it slowly submerges in the mineral heavy water.

Heavy Currents

Surges of a river current flung from a waterfall collide midair creating new currents that shape the land around.

Dissolved Earth

Mineral rich water builds rock with dissolved iron and calcium.

Drawing Down

Water of the Nooksack River cools the air creating downdrafts that collect leaf fall.

Interference Wells

Rain droplets on a marsh reveal voids and barriers of life that shape current and flow.

Spring on Sometimes Lake

Marsh reeds flooded by melt waters from Mt. Adams tells the story of the seasons. In summer plants will run riot over the rich soil of the field that is sometimes, a lake.

Crosscurrents and the Exploded Forest

Shallow waves on Spirit Lake indicate a submerged forest that was blasted from the face of Mt. St. Helens in 1980.

Volcanic Tides

Moss collected on the tops of rocks in a hot spring tell the story surging volcanic activity.

Prairie Creek

Stones collected by floods create reefs that let light through and shift as the water deepens.

The Shape of Earth and Sky

Shapes in the water tell the story of submerged boulder where the waters grow deep and reflect the sky.

Rainbow Breath

Falling water at Palouse Falls vaporizes, coloring the air and setting the course for mosses that grown on the volcanic face.

Fog Lens

As water cools faster than air, its creates temperature variances that feed blooms of fog.

Rusted Leaves

The iron rich waters of Yellow Spring in Central Ohio encase fallen leaves and oxidize in the spring pool.

Carbon Currents

Black basaltic rock pulverized by Mt Rainier gathers on a sandbar in the Carbon River.

Silt , Polish and Traces

Glacier Flour, silts created when glaciers pulverize rock, traces currents of the Carbon River polishing stones in the river bed.

Pollution

An algae bloom on the edge of a man made reservoir tells the story of human pollution.

Gathering Earth

A submerged leaf re-directs water and silt into the shape of prevailing currents on the banks of the Hoh River.

Water Table

Water trapped on the edge of the forest floor tells the story of water table that feeds a massive rainforest.

Deep Wake

A wake cut across America's deepest lake, Crater Lake, distorts reflections of the volcano's face.