Niagara Falls Portfolio - Statement

My first trip to Niagara Falls was in February 2008, when I made the first image
in this portfolio. The other images were made a month later on a second trip.

Before my first visit I had only imaginings of Niagara Falls. I imagined a vintage tourist town with
aging honeymoon hotels and water falls somewhere in the middle of it all. When I arrived on the
Canadian side of Niagara where the main views of the falls are, I found modern hotels, an amusement park,
indoor water parks and casinos towering in an arc, enshrining the falls. After sunset, large spotlights
cascade across the falls in a rainbow of colors that change every 15 minutes or so. On the surface,
this is not exactly the place for a photographer seeking deep mysteries and magic of the natural world.

To look right into the falls themselves, however, it did feel possible for me to find their natural magic.
The mist of the falls and the snow from the winter storms coated the huge boulders at the base of the falls
and just about everything else around them, and it was an other worldly experience
looking down into them and their river of thick, chunky ice.

I was in the area studying Reiki, a Japanese healing art that works with a flow of life force in all things.
It felt very appropriate to be photographing these big glowing flows of water while
practicing an art of working with a powerful, flowing force. Many thoughts came to mind about the flow of life through our bodies, and all things on earth, now surrounded by so many objects, bright lights and noises.

Process

I create each print individually using archival
ultrachrome pigment inks and the finest archival papers.

Images are created with a digital SLR camera. Prints are made using a process based in the darkroom
printing techniques of the early masters of photography adapted to current technology and digital tools.
The inks are UV stable and have a longevity rating of 138 years when protected from direct UV exposure.

Prints are available in editions of 3 and 5, varying with the print size. The portfolio
price list contains information about the sizes of available prints.

The prints are signed and numbered inverso with pencil and emboss stamped with my studio insignia
below the image on the bottom right of the paper. Each print also has an individually
numbered holographic stamp that corresponds to a signed certificate of authenticity.

Purchased prints ship with an archival print box.