Exhibit LVIII

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Landscapes II

       Perhaps the greatest inducement, for me, in adopting photography as a compelling avocation, was the desire to capture the spirit of the American landscape as I, crisscrossing much of it many times in my younger days, perceived it, before it underwent too many changes in the name of "progress."
       As with many other subjects, my definition of landscapes is rather broad and includes what I term seascapes and even skyscapes. Yet, within a stricter interpretation of landscapes, I find my preference is for what I term "farmscapes," that is, landscapes where man interacts with nature, primarily in pursuit of agricultural produce. For me, there is something satisfying about successfully capturing man's efforts to work in harmony with nature.

       Although essentially a documentarian in my photographic efforts, I confess an inner compulsion to capture the universal within the particular. However, I have found that the wider the view, the more difficulty in expressing its universality successfully. Instead, the narrower aspects of nature, as in the more local and particular, such as still lifes and portraits, have succeeded better for me in this regard.
       Consequently, in retrospect, a shortcoming of my photography has been a dearth of success in my original objective of capturing landscapes. This is particularly ironic for me, as making portraits, initially an unintended and under appreciated objective, became more rewarding at the same time landscapes became increasingly frustrating.
       So, although I have little to show for my years of pursuing landscapes, I trudge happily along. In the meantime, let "Laura Timmins" and Louis Philippe express verbally what I strive to achieve photographically. 


          "How green they are, the fields. It's like they're dreaming in
     the sunshine, waiting for a future they know nothing of.
          Perhaps we were all like those fields, dreaming in the
     sunshine, waiting for a future we knew nothing of."

              (From Episode 5 of Lark Rise to Candleford by Bill Gallagher,
     2008; based on Flora Thompson's writings with the same title.)

       A landscape cannot be beautiful where there are only trees. 
     Only a blend of meadows, tilled fields, and human dwellings
     composes a truly pleasant countryside that charms the eye.

                      Louis Philippe, Duc d'Orleans, future King of France
                     Diary of My Travels in America, 26 April 1797