Ice on the Chesapeake, 16"x20"

Everything leaves tracks. Each being, each event moving though time and space, leaves its mark. This is true of bacteria and birds, wind and rain, water flowing across the flats and comets hurtling through the solar system. Tracks are also, by nature, temporary - though, as in the case of dinosaur tracks - some last longer than others.

We Humans are great track-makers and signs of our passing cover the earth. From trash on highways, clear cut forests and smog, to gardens of flowers and beautiful buildings. One of our most indelible images is a foot print on the moon. We can study the past and predict the future through the observations of tracks.

I come to photography with a painter’s training and my concern is always composition and color. The myriad grays of a silver gelatin or giclée print hold a richness and clarity that reveals, to me, a truth about what I see that I can’t find using color photography or paint. The threefold process of exploring the natural world, unraveling the Mystery to be discovered, and the crafting of those images are often the highlights of my artistic experience."
Laura Vernon Russell