Voted best art photographer of the city!  My humble thanks.  "She has a way of making the most simple situations seem extraordinary...Her use of focus and effect exude a sense of gentle importance...."

It is my fourth day at Brush Creek Ranch Foundation for the Arts residency in Saratoga, WY.  Along with four other artists, I share 13,000 acres of wild wintery terrain.  Simultaneous with the tranquility of the the landscape, is a wild energy.  The catalysts unquantifiable.  Bison, longhorns, ranch dogs, antelope, and the history of 150 years tended to this space.  I spent yesterday hiking, following nothing but animal footprints in the snow.  

Below are recently scanned and un-processed photographs of my 43 day canoe expedition in 1997.  I, along with six other women, paddled the Tha-anne River to it's mouth in Hudson Bay.  Unfortunately, our trip was cut about 5 days short when we were notified there was a polar bear sighting within three miles of our camp.  We spent those days in Arviat, camping on an old aircraft strip.  

Though, really, it was the 43 days prior that left a forever lasting impact on my life.  To be challenged a million ways each day.  We were so out of contact, we had not heard a male voice until radioing a plane above around day 30.  The only people we saw were about day 35 (?).  A small group of fisherman, who so kindly supplied us with a few canned goods and fresh fish, after hearing we had lost an entire food pack traversing a large lake in strong winds.  

It astounds me how unconnected we were, from everything except ourselves, and each other. 

There were minks, gorgeous moving heards of caribou, the northern lights and the un-invited swarms of black flies. I was 18 years old.  It has been 14 years since I have seen these images.  Again- the power of the photograph.

This is only a small sample from about 220 images.  There would have been more, I am sure, had digital existed.   All the women on this trip contributed images, and this is where the credit lies. 


Sara Racciatti Johnson, our leader: I don't know how you did it.  

Quite recently, Fototazo has added a gallery feature to their site, and has chosen to publish one of my photographs this week.  Onna, 2011 was taken on a summer day along the Huron River in Ann Arbor, MI.  Onna is wearing a dress her mother wore while pregnant with her.  This shoot was just lovely, and it is a pleasure to share.  

Fototazo supports emerging phtographers in a multitude of ways.  Firstly, the gallery publishes one photograph a week, allowing for photographers all over the world the opportunity to share their work.  Second, and perhaps more importantly (perhaps because this is where the over the top-plain goodness comes into view), the site is a platform of social giving.  Through various microgrants, Fototazo wishes to support emerging practicing photographers by providing funding that will enhance their creative process.  As photographers, we understand the often outlandish costs it takes to produce and present our work.  Fototazo wishes to create opportunity for those whom otherwise would not be able.  This process allows for more voices in the field of photography, and consequently, a richer conversation.  The current microgrant is for Margarita Valdivieso, a college student at the University of Antioquia in Colombia, wishing to purchase a better camera.  

Fototazo emits passion for the art of photography.  It's everywhere on the site, and you cannot help but be inspired. Tom Griggs, the founder of Fototazo is a talented phtographer himself.  His images are raw, seemingly all candid, and capture moments that often fall through the crevasses of the mind.  Some photographs are hauntingly beautiful, such as the pool of leaking water from his series Ana, while I find warmth and safety in the hand on the car door in his Fluorescent Moon series.