All the work on this site is derived from photographs. There are two major categories: depictions of the real world in the form of subjective photographs (recognizable subjects) and abstract derivatives.
For the subjective photographs, I typically start with as many as 100 original shots taken in sequence. I stitch them together digitally and then do the traditional darkroom work to balance the tones and contrast. I don't add any elements. Starting with many originals gives me a wide range of creative options. This includes being able to produce wall-size finished pieces at very high resolution (printing is done typically at 300dpi.)
For the abstracts, I usually start with a single original and build on it. To varying degrees and using many methods, the pieces are processed to arrive at the finished results. Some pieces have several hundred layers, filters and/or adjustments made to them. As you move through the galleries you will find that with some work the original photographs still show as recognizable elements; with others, the origin is obscured by the processing. My goal in all cases is to discover, through pixel processing, what new imagery is born. There are many failures, some of which will be on display here. Over the last 4½ years I have completed several hundred pieces – the process encourages proliferation. I'm referring to this technique by a number of names – digital pointillism would be one, though what Seurat had in mind was probably a bit different from what you see here.
While working digitally allows quite a bit of freedom in deciding on a finished dimension, much of the work I produce at very large sizes – some 20 feet on a side, some 40, even 50. The process encourages large sizes as the detail when seen from a close proximity is as compelling as the image when seen from a distance. In addition to the large pieces, I produce many at much smaller sizes – there are interesting details of the larger pieces that in themselves are very satisfying as finished pieces. These are in the 3 to 6 foot range. The sizes are indicated. The media varies from archival paper, mounted, matted and framed, to Duratrans and back-lit mountings on lightboxes, to ceramic tiles. Each media choice adds a unique finish quality to the piece.