Field note.

Made near Lava Butte National Monument, about 11 miles south of Bend, Oregon.

I don’t simply stumble on arrangements like this. I often spend hours walking, gathering bits and pieces, studying the ground, and looking for the right place to build the image.

For this one, I collected moss, mushroom, lava rock, and charred wood, then arranged them into this temporary still life in the field.

What held me was the contrast: bright green against black, soft growth against burnt wood, and that pale cracked form in the center holding it all together.

This is a big part of my practice — foraging, collecting, arranging, photographing, and then leaving the materials behind.

Are you drawn to these small natural details too, or to the process of gathering and making something from them?

#stilllifephotography #fineartphotography #naturecollecting #organictextures #lavabutte ...

Field note.

Found outside Lone Rock Beach in Utah.

I have no idea what this is, and that’s part of why I loved it. It looked like it was blooming right out of the rock! ...these strange rounded forms, rusty color, green surface, and all that glorious texture packed into one tiny spot.

I’m always looking for things like this when I’m out walking. Small details that make me stop and wonder what I’m actually seeing.

Would this have caught your eye too?

#stilllifephotography #fineartphotography #naturedetail #organictextures #fieldobservation ...

Field note.

I made this one right after the last image, using many of the same bits I had gathered near Lava Butte National Monument.

I often work this way, staying with the materials, shifting the arrangement, and seeing what else might speak. Sometimes the second or third version opens something up that the first one didn’t.

Same moss, mushroom, lava rock, and charred wood. Different balance. Different feeling.

These field still lifes are gathered over time, arranged by hand, photographed, and then taken apart again.

Let me ask you all this... Do you like seeing how an image changes when the materials stay the same but the arrangement shifts?

#stilllifephotography #fineartphotography #naturecollecting #organictextures #lavabutte ...

Field note.

Made near Lava Butte National Monument, about 11 miles south of Bend, Oregon.

I often spend hours walking and gathering before I ever make a photograph. Moss, mushroom, lava rock, charred wood — I collect these bits and pieces, then look for the right place to stop and build the image.

This one came together because of the contrast: bright green against black, soft growth against burnt wood, and that pale cracked form at the center.

These field still lifes are not found whole. They are gathered, arranged, photographed, and then taken apart again.

Are you drawn to small natural details like this too?

#stilllifephotography #fineartphotography #naturecollecting #organictextures #lavabutte ...

Foraged still life. - I really wasn’t looking for a picture of a leaf. I was looking at the holes, the veins, the worn surface, and the way it echoed the rock beneath it…

Not every image I make in the landscape is part of "Finds."

Sometimes I come across a small moment like this and want to keep it.

This leaf, that dark stone beneath it, and the weathered surface around them caught me for all the reasons I’m always looking: texture, wear, pattern, quiet color, and the feeling that something ordinary can briefly be arranged into something beautiful.

I guess what I am saying is- When a Leaf and a Rock look like they belong together - you stop everything and put them together! Or maybe that`s just me???

Do you collect small natural things too, or do you leave them where they are and just enjoy them?

#foragedstilllife #naturecollecting #stilllifephotography #fineartphotography #fieldobservation ...

Sometimes I am just awed by color and texture... That is all.

#awedbynature ...