Sometime It's hard to tell why I like a picture. Here's one I like, but I don't know if it's 'universal' or not. I know I like it because I always liked these girls. (Even though I never knew them that well.) This was taken in May of 1971. They're at the top of a stairwell in the high school.

Will this photo appeal to someone who has no personal connection with these girls?

Here's my son Max at a friends birthday party in 1991 or 1992. This is another photo that I've always liked.

Is it also just a personal snapshot, or does it transcend that to become more? I've always liked how all three, Max, Lee and the baby, have the same serious expression.

All I can really do is present the photos and see what response they get.

(This photo is one where the negative is missing. I scanned an 8 x 10 c-print to get this digitized.)

Taken week of June 15 1971

Driving home to Iowa from a college visit in Missouri, I came over a hill to see this amazing moonscape.

By the time I was out of college 4 years later, (with a photography BFA.) I had unconsciously trained myself to see in black and white. I knew without thinking how the scene in my viewfinder would translate to print. Reds would be dark gray, blues a lighter gray. I saw in shades of light and dark.

I didn't realize this until I started shooting color slides in 1975. (working at a photo store made it affordable) The color slides just weren't looking like I expected. My brain was speaking black and white, but my camera was now speaking color. I had to learn to see colors again. That new color awareness shows in the Iowa City gallery images.

Taken week of June 6 1971

I was excited about college (Freshman year only a few months away - a BFA in photography planned) and getting better at finding interesting photos. This bumble bee was a big hit. I made a nice 11 by 14 border-less print that everyone liked.

I wonder if the over-exposure, which makes the dark bee stand out so nice against the sun-washed vegetation, was intentional or just lucky? I don't remember taking this photo, I only remember the photo itself.

It's 1950's day at Atlantic High School, and many students are dressed the part. (it's actually 1971.) We thought it would be funny, including Lester, the foreign exchange student from South Africa, to have him pretend to be shining shoes. He was the first  black person I'd ever met, there being no other blacks living in Atlantic at the time.

I can't believe how goofy I am in my white pants and black shoes. This is the first time dad and I have seen each other since I was 3, so you'd think I'd dress better. Trouble is, I remember that this was my favorite outfit at the time, so I thought I was dressed up.

See Dad for more on the visit.