Hoover Tower, 2005

Along with the impulse to raise a camera to take a picture come the mental calculations about where to stand and what to include in the frame. At some point the primary question has to be resolved--does this subject have meaning to me? Meaning can come from an association with an event or people or from a consideration of beauty. It can also come with what truth is revealed by the subject matter. In this particular photo, taken at the top of the Hoover Tower on the Stanford University campus, the meaning comes from considering the question. Monuments are built so that we appreciate how monumental they are.

SRI, 2005

Contrasts are important in the visual world. This photo shows the interplay between natural and man made, rigid and loose, straight and squiggly, organic and mechanical. I think of how necessary one aspect is to the other. Apart from one another they are less.

I've driven past this scene hundreds of times without noticing it. Only by walking past in the late afternoon light did I allow myself the opportunity to consider it worth shooting. The lesson in that is the value of slowing down.

This was the last frame of the roll and after it was exposed I inserted another roll and continued shooting. If I were asked at the time, I would have bet that the second roll would produce the best picture. I would've been wrong. Memory is only a close second to evidence.

Shadows from the tree in the foreground are falling on a building that has the look of a modern prison. Rows of tall narrow windows seem to be designed to allow a minimum of light and a maximum level of security. Despite those appearances this is one of the buildings that make up SRI International in Menlo Park.