I am a photographer based in Taos, New Mexico.

My “second Origin” began with the passing of my parents (98 & 99 years old) within a couple months of each other in the beginning of 2017. I felt when they were finally gone, there was a freedom to proceed with my life in a more authentic way. No bad, crippling childhood demons to deal with, perhaps just a less “judged" life from that point on.

The four outside panels of this cube represent the stages of their passing: Mourning, Memorializing, Ascension (they were very religious) and Rebirth (which is more my belief than theirs). The inside of my cube represents the results of my childhood Origins and a life of travel, empathy, quiet visual curiosity, and never-ending amazement.

Travel: I grew up in a Czech neighborhood just outside of Chicago. We moved when I was in the sixth grade, and then again when I had finished my first year of studies at the University of Illinois. The move during college from Illinois to Arizona was transformative. I was now meeting people from all over the west: California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and New Mexico, and started taking long driving trips across this amazing area. My eyes were opened! What great landscapes, possibilities and different ways of living existed beyond what I knew from the mid-west! When I started working in photography and realized that you could travel on assignments, make some money and see the world, it was heaven. Travel itself fitted my need to keep moving: Planes, trains and automobiles. Over 300 cities, 40 countries and all 50 states.

Empathy: After bragging about winning 3 gold medals in a 4th grade YMCA track meet, my Dad took me aside and explained that some people will never win medals, and I should not be so “arrogant”. I was devastated, and did not understand why he wasn’t proud. Wasn’t I supposed to win? Years passed, and I realized he was teaching me to be humble and empathetic. Later, my camera often focused on lone individuals in unknown places. As I was curious about their lives, I also felt for them, wondering about their struggles and their joys.

Visual Curiosity: In our highly organized and alphabetized grade school, and having a last name starting with Z, I was almost always seated in the back corner near the windows. I may have missed a lot of what the teacher was saying, but I spent a great deal of time looking out those windows and learning to see. The buildings, nature, and surroundings that I saw as a child became frequent themes for my later photos - my visual diary.

Amazement: Growing up in a big family, I found time alone in the early morning and outside, watching the clouds, trees, snow and the rain. I became fascinated with the light before dawn, the creek outside the Brookfield Zoo, building sandbox villages, and the other-worldly episodes of Flash Gordon.

I continue to be visually drawn to the unexplained, the mysteries of situations, light, compositions, and nuances of color. I often have no thoughts about what I photograph, just letting my eye quietly roam. In places where languages other than English are spoken, my ability to process what I am hearing becomes less dominant, the world becomes quiet, and my vision becomes more acute.

On the bottom of the cube is a photo of a hard to fathom circular dome, created by sculptor Anthony Howe from Orcas Island, WA. This seems like an appropriate base image for my worldly, complex and creative Origins.