How far have you come with your art?

I was thinking about how far I have come with my art and I thought I’d share the first photos I took with a brand new camera that I flew to New York to purchase in 1996. It was a Linhof TK 45 Tecnikardan. A beast that folds flat and did everything you could wish for in a large format camera. As I travelled around Colorado I took a few images. Six I think.

This is at Ouray, the main ice climbing line up the left hand side chimney is called ‘Bird Brain Boulevard’, named because it funnels avalanche debris and is very dangerous if the conditions aren’t perfect. Ice climbing is done at dawn before the sun wakes up and starts melting ice. I climbed on the wall opposite and so loved ice climbing. Luckily there isn’t much ice in Australia and I didn’t become obsessed with it. It’s a rather dangerous sport. I know I have posted this one before and told you about this climb.

This one is near Silverton. Which is near Teluride. I skied there for a week. I made a pilgrimage to visit Silverton because of Dolores LaChapelle, one of leaders of the deep ecology movement. Her book is an opus and at its time groundbreaking. Sacred Land, Sacred Sex: Rapture of the Deep: Concerning Deep Ecology and Celebrating Life

Her other favourite book of mine is called Deep Powder Snow, forty years of ecstatic skiing, avalanches and earth wisdom. It’s the best book on skiing with the mountain and snow I have ever read. It influenced my attitude towards how I photograph today. Being at one with the subject is way more important than being an observer or documenter. Very zen I know. But that is how I work. My connection to what I am photographing brings the most intimate works of art.

It’s so lovely to stop and see how far you have come. These were in film in the days when I took one photo on a good day out with my camera. This camera was eventually stolen which happened during my break down. Anyway that’s a whole different story to tell.