Upland is the inland counterpart to my coastal collections. The work is from fields, forests, paths, and trails, mostly in eastern Massachusetts and the surrounding region. World’s End in Hingham. The Boston Public Garden. Open hayfields and stone walls. The kind of New England landscape that does not get to the coast.
These are limited edition fine art landscape photographs, hand-numbered, printed in small runs. Every image is captured on film with a large format camera. The photographs in this collection tend to be quieter than the coastal work. There is no surf, no salt marsh, no boat. The drama comes from light, fog, the curve of a path, the architecture of a single tree.
This is a piece about the photographs in the Upland collection, where they were made, and what I was trying to find in each of them.
Morning Mist
I shot Morning Mist on a particularly foggy morning at World’s End in Hingham. The only sound was lobster boats slowly chugging by off the coast in the distance. I later sold a large print of this image to actor Christopher Lloyd, who bought it as a gift to an old girlfriend who grew up in Hingham. That is the kind of unexpected story you accumulate when you have been making fine art photography in one place for thirty years.
Morning Stroll, World’s End
Morning Stroll was one of my first attempts at photographing World’s End. Many people ask me if it is from England or Ireland. I tell them it can be wherever they imagine it to be. World’s End is a 250 acre peninsula on the South Shore of Boston, originally landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted in the 1880s. The path lines and tree placements are not accidental. They were designed by the man who designed Central Park.
Peak of the Hill, World’s End
I shot Peak of the Hill primarily for the curve in the pathway. I thought the fog added a sense of mystery, because the path seemingly falls off to infinity. The companion piece, November #2, World’s End, I made simply because I liked the curve in the path. Buyers tend to pair them when they have the wall space.
Boston Public Garden
There are almost fifty distinct species or varieties of trees in the Boston Public Garden. I had the pleasure of walking through it almost daily for a number of years when I worked in the neighborhood. This photograph is composed for vertical structure and rhythm through the repeated forms of the trees. The light modulates evenly to reveal texture and depth without visual clutter.
Why film, why large format
People ask me all the time why I still work on film. The honest answer is that the camera I use, a large format film camera, makes a different kind of photograph than a digital sensor does. Film holds tone. It compresses highlights softly. The fog in Morning Mist would be flatter on a digital sensor. The curve of a path in Peak of the Hill would lose subtlety. None of that is theoretical. You can see it in the prints.
Digital is a wonderful tool. It just isn’t this tool.
The other reason is pace. With large format, you set up the camera, you compose, you wait for the light, and you commit. Each frame costs something. You think before you take it. That slowness shows up in the work, even if you cannot put your finger on why. It is the difference between a snapshot of a forest and a piece of fine art photography of a forest.
More from the collection
Driftway Autumn. An early fall capture I had planned for a year or two. I needed a high tide, little or no wind, and dramatic clouds to reflect in the water. It often takes a year or two for all the elements to coalesce.
Chappaquiddick. I went to Martha’s Vineyard to hang a photograph for a customer and brought my cameras. The ocean peeks in from the far distance. I personally hang most of the work I sell, and I appreciate a day trip to the islands.
September Field. I like to imagine that these maples talk to each other.
Nap Time. I like the simple composition of this image, and the feeling that you just want to walk over and lay down in the hammock.
St Clar, Gers, France. I deliberately chose an exposure with a car in the road to show a sense of scale. This remote area has the best food in France.
On limited editions
Every photograph in the Upland 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
Inland landscape photography lives in different rooms than coastal work does. These pieces tend to land well in studies, libraries, primary bedrooms, and the kinds of rooms where you want a sense of depth and stillness without an obvious view of the ocean.
The World’s End images in particular are popular with buyers who do not have a connection to the coast but want a piece that feels like New England. The fog, the path, the architecture of the trees do that work.
If you want the room to feel reflective rather than dynamic, the Upland collection is usually the best fit.
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 Upland 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:
- Dunes and Estuaries. Coastal companion to Upland, with marshes and dune paths from the South Shore.
- Driftwood, Lake and Stream. Black and white work from the Maine lakes.
- Great Escapes. European landscapes and architectural studies from France, Italy, and Ireland.
- New Releases. The most recent additions to the body of work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these photographs digital or film?
Every photograph in the Upland 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 Upland collection is shot primarily in eastern Massachusetts, including World’s End in Hingham, the Boston Public Garden, the Driftway in Scituate, and various inland fields and forests across the region. A few pieces in the collection are from Martha’s Vineyard and southwestern 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.
