Nature has been a passion for the majority of my life always with an eye for beauty in the mundane. Living in the Pacific Northwest one need not necessarily consider the mundane to find beauty for it is easily found in the vast stretches of natural wilderness that blanket the land. Living in the Columbia Basin has drawn my focus to a particular theme however; exemplifying what is to me an ideal expression of the whole. The mighty Columbia River, upon its banks and along its stretching shorelines from the last great ridges of the Cascade Range in Canada to the very mouth of the ocean in Oregon this river has stood as an immortal testament to the great and diverse lands it flows through.
The great river begs a story to be told, and it is through the lens of my camera that it is spoken. There are many stories woven through the river and the lands it feeds. We can see the expression of the seasons told through its plants from grey leafless tree’s and sky held in frosty winters grip. To the glowing vibrancy of fresh springs buds, caught on flower perfumed air, hung in stasis by the picture taken at exactly the right moment. Too the great many birds, reptiles, and mammals that call the waterways home, hunting, nesting, and existing.
As a mother of four and a grandmother of three I know how important the cycle of life is. The river expresses death and rebirth at every bend through the seasons and the creatures, and through this work the story unfolds as I have seen it, and as the river has seen it.
These photographs not only serve to aesthetically please, but also invoke the same emotions I feel and am afforded by living and enjoying the river every day. It is my desire that this body of work fulfills the sense of adventure and wonder that was found in the creation of these photographs and to all who take the time to consider the artistry that weaves through the sights of our beloved nature, captured in one frame as if the great river herself had held her breath.