Upcoming Exhibition

I was recently honored to have been selected to exhibit in the 2025 Team Kentucky Art Gallery at the State Capitol in Frankfort. The chosen image was from the fine art collection “Photographs and Paintings” and one I made this year on Long Run Lake in eastern Jefferson County.

From the Team Kentucky Digital Art Gallery Website

Team Kentucky Digital Art Gallery

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Gov. Andy Beshear and First Lady Britainy Beshear are excited to showcase Kentuckians' artistic talents in the Team Kentucky Gallery, located in the main halls of the state Capitol in Frankfort.

The Beshears believe the Capitol, as the people's house, is the best place to highlight Kentuckians' voices as represented through art. This art exhibit is by Kentuckians and for Kentuckians.

Exhibits run in six-month cycles and the first exhibit debuted on July 1, 2021. The current exhibit runs through June 30, 2025, and can be found at Team Kentucky Digital Art Gallery - Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear

The Color of Time and Place

Whiskey Row downtown Louisville

Wherever we’ve lived, I’ve made it a point to try and immerse myself in the history of the community and the people and places that make each one unique.  And certainly, there is no limit to the opportunities to visit, learn about and enjoy this history in the Louisville and Jefferson County area.  That history gives a community its personality, its color you might say. 

Oxmoor Farm, Bullitt Family Mansion Library

And I am just beginning to scratch the surface on local Louisville history.  And of course, as I wonder about, I photograph the places I find along the way.  I want to document for myself and others the places I visit. 

Oxmoor Farm, Bullitt Family Mansion Fireplace

Some of you might find this kind of boring, and that’s okay. We’re all different and have different sources of inspiration and artistic passions. My goals in visiting, learning about, and photographing these places are for my own education, enjoyment, and sharpening my skills as a photographer. 

I hope you see places you’re familiar with. If you have any comments or thoughts, please include them in the space below. If you know of other interesting places I might visit, please let me know that as well. 

Union Train Station

Louisville Gardens

I plan to post updates as I visit the area.  I call this series The Color of Time and Place.  Just my way of adding my stamp on a vibrant and rich city and region.  One full of limitless history.  I hope you enjoy. 

Glenmary Country Club

Glenmary Country Club

The Poetry of Fog & Mist

Weather conditions are not always conducive to capturing great images. This has been particularly true as we've entered the so-called Dog Days of Summer, characterized by a pattern of heat and humidity that leaves little opportunity for atmospheric changes that enhance images. Conditions like early morning fog and mist can add color, atmosphere, and even a sense of mystery, or broken cloud cover that can brighten the sky or create reflections on a lake's surface.

I'm lucky to live near two locations that provide opportunities to take beautiful landscape photos: Long Run Park and The Parklands at Floyd’s Fork. I've been venturing out early in the morning to catch the sunrise at Long Run Lake. Recently, I was welcomed by a perfect morning with thick fog that lingered throughout the morning, slow to dissipate even as the sun began to rise and herald the new day.

Days with perfect weather are rare, and to assist, I use several apps that provide detailed forecasts of weather conditions such as cloud cover, fog, and temperature. However, conditions on the lake can change, and sometimes it's necessary to go out and see for yourself instead of solely relying on technology.

In essence, my foray to the Lake lets me perceive the world in a way I hadn't imagined. It's an ongoing adventure of peeling back layers, uncovering stories, and finding beauty in that changes every day. This isn't just about clouds and fog, it's about seeing life through a lens that captures the poetry in the beauty of a sunrise, the rhythm in nature, and the stories whispered with the start of a new day.

Even on days that are not ideal for creating images, just getting out there is a great way to begin my day. It allows me to reflect on and appreciate what both nature and life have to offer.

In the Presence of The Greatest Generation

Clichés aside, Mr. Ken Koehler is a great man of his generation or for that matter any generation.  I recently had the opportunity to sit and interview Ken for a publication I am contributing to from Beargrass Christian Church, titled We Are One Together.  And I have to say it was an honor for me to get to know Ken and be able to share with you the story of his remarkable life. 

              Along with his accomplishments, and there are many for this award-winning architect, Ken is a jovial, warm, spirited, and very humble man who incidentally will turn 102 on March 8.  Quick to apologize for a misstatement or a memory lost in the fog of a century of living, he is still as they say, sharp as a tack. 

He recalled in great detail growing up in the West End of Louisville, his 60-plus years as an architect, and the history of his family for which he is so very proud.  Married to Joyce, they had four children and would be married for 59 years.

              He’s proud of the foundation they built together.  A strong family, a great business, and a creative force overseeing the design of buildings throughout the region.  Ken’s parents immigrated from Germany in the early part of the twentieth century and his German American heritage has served him well. 

              I am proud I got to know Ken.  Realizing that I do not have the skills to adequately describe a century of living in a few hundred words, I apologize to Ken in advance.  You deserve much better my friend.  You are one of the best of a great American generation. 

              You can read more about Ken in the upcoming edition of We Are One Together from Beargrass Christian Church – https://beargrass.org. 

Postcards from Barcelona

“There is so much to see and so little time,” we remarked. “We should have done this in our twenties.” But, youth is wasted on the young, as the saying goes. We were starting our family and careers and had little time or money for travel.

Now, we have the resources and certainly have the time, but with this time of life comes aches and pains, sore knees and hips, and the breathlessness we feel is as much due to tired lungs as it is viewing incredible vistas and ancient cathedrals. Still, we are blessed with relatively good health, and with prior planning, we can travel and visit just about anywhere in the world and enjoy the journey.

Our most recent trip found us venturing along the coast of the Western Mediterranean along the shores of Italy, France, and Spain. Florence, Sienna, Aix en Provance, Cote d’ Azur, Eze and Sete and the famed seaport of Marseille were noted stops. I spent a birthday in Montpelier and witnessed one man’s life’s work at the Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona.

 Each city we visited has a unique history, distinctive architecture, and charm. Narrow alleyways lead to ancient Roman aqueducts and old buildings exploding in colors of red and yellow hues and tones. Fish markets with the daily catch piled high on beds of ice, their heads still attached and eyes that seem to follow you as you walk along the docks.

You wonder how all of this was built without computers, modern equipment, and technology. Hundreds, maybe thousands of artisans, and craftsmen, and skilled laborers took centuries to build magnificent cathedrals, monuments, and cities in tribute to their Gods and Kings.

It’s rewarding to witness firsthand the genius of Michelangelo or Antoni Gaudi’s life’s work and the beauty of the Mediterranean Sea. To get away, and out of our day-to-day routines. I found it interesting how the locals seemed to be one with their surroundings, carrying on their day-to-day lives among the grand sculptures and buildings walking on the same cobblestone streets that have been walked for a thousand years.

I wanted to photograph the local people. And to shoot the different venues without hundreds of tourists in the scene. The results are in two collections of photographs. Postcards from Barcelona and The Western Mediterranean.

Sore knees and hips and aching backs. Long flights, time changes and lost luggage. At least a week to recover. And we’re ready to go again.

The Beginning at Half Dome with Terrell

He and I would become darn good friends that summer. You could say we grew closer. Spending three days on a bus will do that for you. You grow close to a lot of people. It was the summer of 1962 and there my grandfather and I were, standing at the bus station in Cairo, Illinois, he with his Kodak Retina 35 mm rangefinder around his neck and me with my Kodak Duaflex twin-lens reflex camera, imagining I was the famous lensman Mike Kovak from the TV hit series, “Man with a Camera” staring Charles Bronson.

My grandfather, Terrell and I took the Continental Trailways bus 2,000 miles to California along the famous Route 66. Overall, it was a month long journey of discovery and wonder and I would grow very close to my grandfather and develop what would become my passion for photography.

Terrell and I would take many road trips together in the years that followed. He loved to travel, experience new places and people and record his adventures on film. I still have his cameras and boxes of photos and slides taken on this favorite film Ektachrome that he used and he would tell me, “Expose for the highlights and light the shadows” which of course I did not understand at the time. We photographed and talked about sites along the way and the stunning California scenery that awaited us on our arrival.

Yosemite was the highlight of our trip with its towering redwoods and spectacular mountain ranges. I remember the moment he took this photograph of Half Dome in the Yosemite National Park. Pulling off the winding mountain road into one of the several overlooks we were able to get our first look at the face of the monolith that Ansel Adams himself had made so famous in the photograph titled, "Moon and Half Dome" taken only the year before.

This overlook photo, one of my favorites from our trip, has become a connection to my grandfather, as much as any memory I have of him. I can still see him bring the camera to his eye and with a sense of wonder and amazement smile as he looked through the viewfinder at the Yosemite Valley that summer morning. He was not a great photographer by any definition, but he was a good photographer and he understood the process.. Most importantly he loved taking photos and sharing them with family and friends. .

Our trip would prove to be the start of my passion and interest in photography that has lasted a lifetime and I still share his sense of wonder as I bring the camera to my eye. And I often think of my grandfather and our time together at the overlook in the Yosemite Valley.

I’ve never been on another bus, even to take one across town. Being on a bus for three days does bring you close to a lot of people. And while I wouldn’t trade anything for the memories, three days on a bus! Are you kidding me? No way! Unless of course, it could be with Terrell and Mike Kovak.