My development as a photographer is deeply intertwined with my exploration of the American landscape. I have continually found myself drawn the sublime, spiritual, and healing aspects of nature. There are moments, when fully immersed in nature, that renew the spirit. Moments where the problems of everyday life seem to fade away.

My work aims to transform these feelings into imagery, a tradition rooted to the Romantics. My lens therefore becomes an emotional tool, organizing light and form to capture the feeling of a place in time. The principles of Gestalt psychology tend to ride parallel to my approach to composition; seeking to balance foreground/background relationships giving a subject its context within the greater whole. Thus a telephoto lens is frequently employed in my work, helping to isolate subjects within their respective backgrounds.

My work as a studio photographer instilled a penchant for precise color and lighting relationships with image becoming a tonal puzzle to unlock. I avoid post-process manipulation of color and light to "fix" an image, a method I find often invokes the uncanny valley. Instead I seek evocative qualities of light and color in the field and hone those qualities in the final edit.

Recurring motifs in my work include textual abstraction, foreground/background juxtaposition, monolithic natural phenomena, color and tonal relationships, and atmospheric depth.

While carrying out my work in wildernesses and natural areas, I practice leave-no-trace principles. My work aims to serve as a witness for the transformative power nature can impart on the individual who reveres it, and to be a constant reminder for the need to maintain its protection and conservation lest one day all that remains of our natural landscapes are photos.

- Bill Ross -