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Alan's published works

I have been blessed by life in so many ways; high on this list is the ability to make my living by following my bliss – photography. I’m a New England boy, growing up in an essentially blue collar family, but one with refinements. Classical music and reading were encouraged, for example. My path was clear from the beginning: academic star in high school, college, then a profession. I chose chemistry when I was about six, as I recall. And all went along, pretty much according to plan, until screeeeech! (insert sound of needle dragged across record here), I re-discovered photography in my senior year of college.

I’d played with photography in high school: the chem-factor of the dark room magic fascinated me. I was president of the Camera Club and the Science Club, so these puzzle pieces fit well together for me... and I might as well admit (c’mon Alan, you know you’ll feel better) that I was president of the Chess Club and the Audio-Visual Club as well – yes, I was the nerd who rolled the projector into your bio class for the movie on pollination.

When photography re-emerged into my consciousness, it grabbed me by the heart and soul and never let go. I joked at the time that I had to unlearn everything to go forward with this – in retrospect, there was much truth in this. Most of my training had been left-brain based – I needed to fully awaken my right brain and allow it to catch up. But college served its purpose – I learned what I didn’t want to do (academia, corporate business, military), and discovered what my soul needed – visual arts. I never finished my degree at Hopkins, but I discovered my path.

Mastering this strange and wonderful art and craft became my primary focus through my twenties, and sadly, my young family suffered for this. That’s a different and much too common story. I discovered those image-makers whose work resonated within me and would shape my vision. Ansel Adams would become the Grandfather of my adopted, metaphoric photographic family, and I made the pilgrimage to his Yosemite workshops in 1976 to sit at his knee and the other wonderful photographers he assembled. Philip Hyde, my sensitive photographic “father”, attuned me to the importance of craftsmanship – Ansel showed me how, but Philip showed me why.

Eliot Porter became the kingpin of my visual education. All of the other members of this adopted family felt assigned to me, just like a real family. But if Eliot was my “uncle”, he would be different from all the others… he became my favorite uncle. His was the work I intuitively understood – no intellect necessary. His image of backlit raspberry canes had the same power as Ansel’s dramatic clearing winter storm in Yosemite Valley. How could this be? The one was a quiet vignette of a pastoral field, the other showed mighty Nature huffin’ and puffin’ – how could both images contain equal power? Eliot showed me that the secret is light. Quality of light can actually trump powerful image content, and when both are used in harmony, the result is absolutely magic! Then I finally understood the true strength of Ansel’s work: perfect composition uniting wonderful light with strong content. I finally got it.

Once I got it, I then had to figure out what to do with it. The starving artist was not my model, but neither was “weddings and portraits, children a specialty”.  (Felix Unger - The Odd Couple) Fortune would smile upon me and lead me to the college bookstore market. The institutionally-owned stores of many colleges and universities had a need for high quality images of their campuses, and for product to sell to their students, alumni and fans. Soon I had a thriving business selling my images on everything from postcards and note cards to posters and coffee-table books. I found a marketplace at small schools like Kenyon and Colby Colleges, at the Ivies – Princeton, Yale and Cornell – and at the giant state universities like Florida Sate, LSU and UCLA. I found on these campuses a perfect training ground for a budding landscape photographer and entrepreneur, and a way to celebrate my love of fine architecture. Some of my favorite campuses and projects are the books I created for Stanford, Cornell, UCLA, USC and the Chatauqua Institution. The Duke Gardens are unparalled to my knowledge, and have inspired me to focus more on garden photography.

Other fascinating projects have popped up along the way. “Race Week” is a collection of images made at the Arlington Park during the week preceding, and culminating with, the Arlington Million… race horses, jockeys, spectators and barn cats – what a combination! Sea horses and jellyfish created quite a challenge at the Scripps Institution Birch Aquarium. A series of panoramic images created for the Grand Canyon Association, used in posters and a rim-to-river postcard book, challenged my body, mind, spirit and intellect and is a highpoint of my life. My association with Down East Books led to four books on my beloved New England. And perhaps the crown jewel was the assignment from retiring University of California president Richard Atkinson to photograph all ten UC campuses for his legacy gift to the University, the Atkinson Archive. Ansel Adams created a similar collection of images in the 60’s for then-UC President Clarke Kerr, closing that circle very neatly.

I've now had several years off the road to explore and photograph my beloved Vermont, the heart and soul of New England. I love being home to watch the seasons change, and to record the light and life of this vital place. I've received so many requests to share my knowledge and technique that I now conduct a workshop program, the Vermont Photographic Workshop. I find huge satisfaction in sharing what I've learned and inspiring other photographers to explore their potential, and I hope to expand this program over the next few years.

Thanks for visiting my site. I've always worked with the primary intent of creating images which intrigue and fascinate my own eye... I hope this work resonates for you, too.

Alan