My friend and I were out on the boat poking around the islands off the St. George peninsula…a truly perfect way to spend a quiet, snowy winter day.

One of the great things about winter along this coast is that if you can get off the mainland and year-round islands, the whole place is yours, a state of mind and being that I love. Creative trespass rules in the winter…no one is around and you get to go where you want. It all adds to the experience I feel so often as a photographer, that of being a highly privileged voyeur.

Being in a position to get intimate with people and places is a large part what motivates me…there’s something very sensual about that freedom.

As I stop to think about it, I realize that I was always like this, even before I picked up a camera. I used to make mind-images, “movies” if you will with my grandfather’s naval binoculars. I would do that for hours and hours.

I still do. With a camera, now. It’s just plain in me.

As are islands.