About the Photography
Except where specifically noted, all of the photography in Wandering Lizard and its component parts (including Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Russia, New Zealand/Australia, Western History Notes, and Biographical Notes.) is the work of Cristalen. All of the photography is copyrighted and all rights to it are reserved. Permission must be obtained before it can be used for any purpose. All of the images are low resolution suitable for the web, but not suitable for publication. Higher resolution versions of most of the images are available should any party be interested in purchasing rights to them. Funds generated by these sales are used to support the project.
Cristalen is the name under which I photograph professionally. I have been a commercial photographer off and on all of my adult life. Over the years I have done a wide range of different kinds of photography including portraiture, architectural, news reporting, advertising, aerial, fine art and wedding work. I have also taught work shops in various subjects related to photography.
I have used a multitude of different cameras in a variety of formats from 8"x10" view cameras, through medium format to 35mm. For years I did my own color and black and white processing back in the days when the room had to be dark and the chemicals had to smell bad. Today I use nothing but digital cameras and "process" the images in a Macintosh computer. I still undertake commercial assignments, but most of my time and photographic effort is devoted to the Wandering Lizard project.
This magazine is an effort to depict selected areas of the American West as they appear to me on the day that I am there. The images are very much the result of "found photography." Obviously, at the time that the image was captured, I selected subject matter, angle of view, time of day, focus, exposure, etc. When processing the images in the computer I sometimes have adjusted focus and contrast and very rarely have made minor adjustments in color balance. All of these factors impact the image but with very few obvious exceptions the resultant picture is an accurate rendition of what I saw that day.
As discussed elsewhere (What, Why, Who, How, and What For) the images are all positive and reflect my great love for this beautiful region of our world. I hope that Wandering Lizard will inspire others to get out from behind the windshield, computer monitor, or television screen and enjoy the treasures that are all around us.
Abecedarius, 8/10
