Photography is both a very simple and complex act. It only takes an instant to trip the shutter, but a lifetime of experiences, feelings, and attitudes go into that click. And because you have made this picture, you will see and make the next one differently.

When I’m out with a camera, I try to blend into the scene I am photographing and be sensitized to all its possibilities. I try to be as open and responsive to the experience as a chime in the wind.

The decision about where to place the camera and when to trip the shutter is often as much unconscious as conscious. You feel it as much as you see it. It’s that glimpse of something just out of reach–like a rainbow–that tells you to click the shutter.

The best pictures are often made in a frenzy. It is that excitement of the moment, the excitement of seeing, that I strive to capture on film. Perhaps only a photographer can really appreciate how transitory and fleeting life is, and how we only get one chance. You can return to the scene and wait, but it will never be the same. Either the light is different, or you are.

Photography is an excellent, if unforgiving teacher. If much of our understanding and knowledge comes through our eyes–as it surely must–the photographic process is a great aid toward awareness. It teaches us how little we actually see with our naked eyes. It allows us the luxury of looking back.

I do not believe a serious photographer can separate life from photography, or photography from life. You are, therefore, you photograph.