Great Escapes is the European collection. Most of the work is from France, where I have spent eight summers based in the Gers region of southwest France over the years. The rest is from Italy, including Tuscany, Florence, Rome, Venice, and the Amalfi Coast, with a smaller selection from Dublin and Scotland.
These are limited edition fine art photographs, hand-numbered, printed in small runs. Every image is captured on film with a large format camera. The collection is available as fine art photography for sale through the website.
This collection is different from my New England work in one important way. The European pieces are about places I have returned to year after year, often staying in the same homes, eating in the same cafes, walking the same streets. The photographs reflect that familiarity. They are not tourist images. They are the images you can only make once you stop being a tourist.
Maison de Chamagnac
I have stayed at Maison de Chamagnac, my friends’ summer house, off and on over the last thirty years. Sleeping in a 600 plus year old home is an astounding experience. The light, the stone, the worn floors, the way the building has settled into the land around it. None of that is reproducible. The photograph captures one morning, in one summer, in a house that has seen more summers than any of us will.
Le Jardin du Luxembourg
I stay within a block or two of Le Jardin du Luxembourg for all of my trips to Paris. My latest hotel is on Rue Odeon, and I have been enjoying the same cafe there for forty years. The garden itself is one of those places where you cannot improve on the composition by adjusting your position. The bench, the gravel path, the geometry of the trees. It is already arranged.
Midday, Lectoure France
Midday, Lectoure is from the medieval walled town of Lectoure in le Gers. The shutters close to beat the heat in southern France. Along with visiting my French family, Lectoure has everything I need: Armagnac, foie gras, and crisp French sunlight. The shutters in the photograph are not staged. The whole town does this every afternoon at the same time. The light comes through, and the windows close.
San Marco, Venice
San Marco, Venice was made in a quiet Venetian passageway opening to a turquoise canal at midday. The glow of the light reflected off the water throughout Venice is magical. To photograph Venice at large format scale, you have to be patient with the crowds and watch for the moments when a passageway empties out. This frame was one of those moments.
Why film, why large format
People ask me all the time why I still work on film. For European travel work specifically, the answer has to do with weight and decision-making. I cannot bring a digital camera and shoot 500 frames in a morning. I have to choose. With a large format film camera and a finite number of plates, every frame becomes deliberate.
Digital is a wonderful tool. It just isn’t this tool, especially not for places I have spent thirty years getting to know.
The other reason is what film does with European light. The deep shadows of a Roman colonnade. The warm gold of a Tuscan field. The pale blue of a Florence morning. Film records these tones with a softness that digital sensors approximate but never quite match. When I print a photograph at 60 inches or 90 inches wide, the grain becomes part of the image. There is nothing to sharpen artificially. What I saw is what is on the wall.
More from the collection
Colosseum Twilight. The iconic Roman Colosseum illuminated at twilight. What one perceives as dark black in an early evening sky turns deep blue when captured on film.
Trevi Fountain. The legendary Trevi Fountain in Rome with its Baroque sculptures. I chose to shoot it in shadow to reveal the varying shades of stone, rather than the bright white you get when the fountain is bleached in full sunlight.
Approach to Capri. I shot the dramatic limestone cliffs at Capri rising from a hired boat. Using a panoramic camera handheld on the water is an almost impossible feat. I tried it anyway.
Ponte Santa Trinita. Florence’s elegant Ponte Santa Trinita reflected in the Arno River. I deliberately wanted to catch the vibe of so many people happily enjoying golden hour. The tour boat just happened to come along at the most opportune moment.
Dublin. My favorite touristy pub in Dublin. There is another more quaint one around the corner for my daytime Guinness.
St. James’s Gate. The famous Guinness St. James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin. It is hard to find something to photograph in a lot of urban places, other than Paris, but this one was easy.
Coeur de la Forêt. A hidden garden path with antique stone urns and a delicate white chair in the forest. The scent of the vegetation is astounding in every season.
On limited editions
Every photograph in the Great Escapes collection is a limited edition fine art photograph, hand-numbered, printed in small runs. When the edition is sold, that is the end of it. The negative still exists, but the edition does not get reopened.
There is a great deal of fine art photography for sale online that calls itself limited edition without actually being limited. I print mine in genuinely small runs. When I say the edition is closed, I mean it.
Bringing a photograph into your home
European fine art photography lives well in dining rooms, libraries, primary suites, and entry halls. The pieces from Italy work particularly well in formal spaces. The French pieces, especially the Lectoure and Maison de Chamagnac images, work in more relaxed settings. The Dublin and Scotland pieces lean toward studies and dens.
Buyers often choose a Great Escapes piece to commemorate a meaningful trip, a honeymoon, or an extended stay abroad. The photograph becomes a personal artifact in addition to fine art. A few have gone into restaurants and hotels with European concepts, where the photograph reinforces the room without being decorative.
The collection works for buyers who do not have a coastal connection but want an evocative landscape on the wall.
See it in your space before you buy
One of the things I built into the website is a tool called See It In Your Space. You upload a photograph of your wall, give me rough measurements, and pick a piece from the collection. I send back a rendered preview of the framed print on your actual wall, in the size and frame option you are considering. It takes about a day. There is no charge and no obligation.
Buying fine art photography at this scale is a meaningful decision, and a flat image on a screen does not always tell you what a 60 inch print is going to feel like in a real room. For sizing reference and current pricing, the Print Sizes and Pricing page lays out everything from the 40 inch standard up through custom installations.
See the full collection
You can browse the full Great Escapes collection here. The collection is updated when new work is finished, which is a few times a year.
Related collections you may want to see
If this collection speaks to you, the work in these collections often appeals to the same buyers:
- Upland. New England landscape work with a similar quiet quality to the European countryside images.
- Water and Sky. Open coast and surf from the New England coast.
- Vessels. Wooden boats and harbor scenes from New England waters.
- New Releases. The most recent additions to the body of work, including new European pieces.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these photographs digital or film?
Every photograph in the Great Escapes collection was shot on film with a large format camera. Nothing is generated, composited, or digitally captured.
How large can these prints be made?
Standard sizes range from 40 inches to 90 inches on the long edge. Custom sizes beyond 90 inches are available for installations that need them. The largest prints I have made have been over 10 feet wide.
Are the prints framed?
Framing is offered on every print. I work with museum-grade framers and match the framing to the image. Unframed prints are also available if you have a framer you prefer.
Are these limited editions?
Yes. Each photograph is hand-numbered and printed in a limited run. Once the edition sells out, no more prints of that image are produced.
Where are most of these photographs taken?
The Great Escapes collection includes work from France (Paris, Lectoure in the Gers region, Aquitaine, Champagnac), Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice, Tuscany, the Amalfi Coast, Lucca), Ireland (Dublin), and Scotland (the Balmoral Estate). I have spent decades visiting some of these places, particularly the Gers region of France.
Do you offer trade pricing for interior designers?
Yes. The Designer Trade Program is open to working interior designers, architects, and stagers. Trade pricing applies to the full collection.
