The Spirit of Virginia

We moved from South Florida to a suburb of Richmond, VA in March 2021. Once we settled in, I began to explore the Commonwealth with the goal of capturing the spirit of this land and its people. The photographs here represent my ongoing and most current project.

About Celebrating the Elements

“There is no environment "out there" that is separate from us. We can't manage our impact on the environment if we are our surroundings. Indigenous people are absolutely correct: we are born of the earth and constructed from the four sacred elements of earth, air, fire and water."

- David Suzuki (Canadian academic, science broadcaster, environmental activist, and author of The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place In Nature where he adds biodiversity and love to the traditional four elements).

As I continuously organize and re-organize the images in this gallery of elements, I find that it is sometimes difficult to categorize photos. Does an image of water flowing around a rock belong in the Earth section or the Water section? What if a turtle sits on the same rock? Biodiversity? Hmmm.... So, I'm not going to get hung up on labels because ultimately, all the elements are but physical manifestations of the same Spirit.

In this gallery, I have been moved to pair some of my photographs with the words of sages, saints, sinners, scriptures, poets, painters, wordsmiths, and writers from traditions across the globe.

About Celebrating Culture

"On the whole, I find nothing anywhere else... which Virginia need envy."

- Thomas Jefferson (18th-19th Century primary author of the Declaration of Independence, President, political theorist, and intellectual)