This is one of the most atmospheric images I’ve made. It is highly abstract. I suggest and imply through the interplay of light and shadow rather than describe. It is incongruous in terms of the contrasting activity level: one of these persons is not going anywhere. The other is up and moving through this rough and worn neighborhood of San Miguel. It is rich in human values as well. The image speaks of an energetic vs. static approach to life. Our emotional response to this photograph is rooted in its atmosphere and mood. The sharply defined highlights contrasting to the deep shadows give the image a rough and primitive tone. There is a sense of foreboding, which makes us realize how vulnerable the resting man may be. Yet the person coming through the darkness seems destined to be there for him if he needs help. This man may sleep on that step, yet others will continue to come and go along the time worn cobblestones of Old San Miguel.

The line between description on one hand and expression on the other often comes down to a matter of mood and atmosphere. If this same image was made two hours later, it would not carry the same nostalgic mood, and would be only a description of a Santa Fe street, with cars, people, less abstraction and more detail. However, I made this image with a 24mm wideangle lens very early in the morning. There was no street or foot traffic whatsoever. Santa Fe light is very special – the city rests at an altitude of 7,000 feet above sea level, and it is relatively free of industrial pollution. Its skies are clear and its morning and afternoon light is warm and brilliant. The inner city is architecturally consistent as well – everything that is built must reflect the style and values of Santa Fe’s past. Galisteo Street is a typical Santa Fe street, now filled with shops of all kinds. A single antiques shop anchors this image – the horses incongruously placed in its window draw the eye and capture the imagination. But the qualities that fuel this image’s emotional content are the nostalgic colors of the warm morning light in the sky and on the buildings, the wideangle emphasis on the abstracted, empty street, and its pervasive sense of silence. All of these qualities provide mood and atmosphere, adding a context and an emotional tone to this street scene, and making an otherwise descriptive scene become an expressive one.

I abstracted this hotel bartender down to a silhouette and isolated him against a glowing alcove holding translucent ranks of bottles. A curving ceiling decoration twists overhead, repeating the pulse of the pattern in the bottles in the alcove. Evening revelry is hours away -- the only sound is silence. The somber colors and abstracted design of this image evoke a mood that I hope will produce an emotional response within the viewer. This photograph reminds me of the paintings of Edward Hopper (1882-1967). He often depicted isolated figures in bleak scenes from ordinary urban life. This is an image of a place dedicated to pleasure, yet it speaks here only of void.

We arrived by riverboat at Luang Prabang -- the jewel of Indochina -- at sunset. Surrounded by mountains at the junction of the Mekong and Kahn rivers, this city of temples, monks, and palaces is remarkably preserved in a time warp. As a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1995, new buildings are limited and its old ones are cherished. The city draws much of its atmosphere from its rivers and mountain setting, and this image conveys a mood that defines the emotional state of mind that pervades the place. It expresses a feeling of tranquility and a sense of timeless beauty. Man and nature are juxtaposed to add scale to this image. The larger of the two, the man bending over the water in the foreground, draws us the floating piers that welcome us to this splendid city. (An instant later, he vanished into the river. He is about to enjoy an evening swim.) The smaller figure, a boatman holding a pole in his hand, stands against the blazing reflection of the sun, symbolizing a way of life. The Mekong River is at the heart of Luang Prabang, and Luang Prabang stands at the heart of the Mekong. Sunsets usually can create a mood or atmosphere that express an emotional state of mind. They can imply a sense of closure and peace, part of nature’s timeless cycle of beginnings and endings. We stand in awe of what see – an emotional state of mind created here by both mood and atmosphere.

Copper is a rich color, conveying a mood of permanence. When I saw how the evening sun was reflecting off the copper plates on the hull of this old rice barge, I felt as if I was looking at a scene that has been shimmering there in the river for a long time, and will continue to do so. I intensified the reflection on both the hull and in the water by metering on the reflection itself, exposing for the highlights and letting everything else fall into the deep and mysterious shadows. Shadows also crate mood and atmosphere – by suggesting mystery and the unknown, they imply possible dangers as well. It is logical to get a sense of protection from this image. The copper clad hull helps keep this boat floating on a river full of unknown dangers, and for a long time to come. All of this is implied in the atmosphere I’ve created here through the interplay of color, light and shadow.

Bagan, a city of thousand ruined temples, is perhaps the most mystical place in Burma. And never does it seem more mysterious than at sunset, as the angle and color of the setting sun creates a shadow of a man, and blending it into the deep orange brick adorned with an icon of divinity. To bring out the mood in this image, I use the color of sunset, the shadows cast by it, and juxtapose within them the symbols of both man and divinity. The mood and atmosphere is shadowed and mysterious, yet also warm and hopeful. These emotional tones are expressed by the mood and atmosphere I’ve structured within this image.