ARTIST STATEMENT My early work deals with architecture and culture, especially the imagery from Middle Eastern ancient sites. This work reflects my admiration of early 19th--century European photographers-- those who photographed ancient places before it was easy to travel, using huge cameras and cumbersome black and white chemical processes, carried across the empty Sahara sands with the assistance of a donkey. Although imagery from Egypt and many other Middle East locales were dramatic and monochromatic, nearly without bright color, my interpretive vision was set during the time I made these images. The series expresses my interpretation of these many rich destinations of culture, architecture and art, including overall and detail views, from some of the most important places in the world.