I love photographing artists at work.

The creative process fascinates me; I love to see the world an artist can create.

This artist is my father, who is quickly becoming a master wood turner.

Dad is a magnet for wood. Every piece of wood has a story for him. You can't buy a beautiful turned bowl from him without learning a detailed description of how and where he found the wood.

And this gives depth to every piece he makes. It is as if you are holding an actual piece of my dad's life in your hands when you examine one of his bowls.

He loves everything about wood, and has been making wooden objects since my earliest memories. He loves to plant trees, and he appreciates their fruit, nuts, shade and beauty. And he sees beauty in their wood, when they must come down.

Each step of handling the wood and shaping it to it's final form (as in the creation of the Maple bowl shown here) is done with love and care and joy.

When he brings a handmade gift to a neighbor that allowed him to take wood from their yard, they can't believe he saw a beautiful wooden object inside the dead tree that had become an eyesore in their yard.

My dad often says that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. And, from what I can tell, he's got a lot of beauty in his eye--especially when he sees a piece of wood.

Take care,
Todd

Screen savers can be dowloaded here.