Bio
A military brat, Mike has spent most of his life west of the Mississippi, which has grown in him a fondness for open landscapes and big sky. He has painted and played a variety of musical instruments, but photography is his first love. Self-taught, he started photographing in elementary school on field trips. Later, he went on to college at Colorado State University where he studied wildlife biology, then to Boise State University where he studied raptor biology in the graduate program. He worked for a variety of state, federal, and private organizations and companies in the wildlife field prior to becoming a full time photographer in 2004. Since 2010, Mike has been an Idaho Commission on the Arts Teaching Artist and on the advisory board for the photography program at Timberline High School. He's been active in the art community as a board member of several local arts and professional photography organizations. He also has a public art installation at Baggley Park in east Boise.
Mike's photographs are in private, government, and corporate collections in the US and around the world. Most recently his work was selected for the US State Department's Art in Embassies Program and is currently displayed in the residence of the Ambassador to Djibouti. His work has also been exhibited in the Embassy of Uruguay in The Hague, Netherlands, The Center for Photography in Miami, and local galleries and event spaces such as the Gallery at Hyde Park, Boise Art Museum, and the Basement Gallery. His photographs have been published in several regional, national, and international magazines. Mike also teaches photography classes and leads workshops worldwide. In addition to his photography, he is a published author and prints and binds his own books, and has been known to design movie posters for award-winning films. More information can be found on his website at www.blueplanetphoto.com.
Statement
My interpretation of the world through my artwork is rooted in my understanding of the natural processes that inform the sensory perceptions I rely upon so heavily to negotiate my life. I'm inspired by music, literature, science, curiosity, challenge, and my experiences with the beautiful complexity and simplicity of our planet. I use digital color and black and white processes, digital composites, smartphone and Polaroid photography, and historical processes like cyanotype printing. I'm not pigeon-holed into a certain style, subject matter or range of subject matter. My artistic subjects have covered artistic figure, abstract, nature and landscape, automotive, astrophotography, urban, and whatever subject interests me, although my tendency is toward nature/landscape/environmental subjects or concepts with a conservation theme.
