My favorite kind of lighting is backlit, low, golden, evening light. For a moment absolutely everything looks lovely just before the sun sets. It's a kind of rose-tinted last look before the night comes.

An equally favorite kind of light for me is a cloud-covered day where the light is filtered. You start the day thinking it is drab and overcast and wishing for the sun, but this is the perfect kind of light to see potential. The difference in the lights and darks is barely there, but the magic lies in the subtleties. The light is said to be flat, but this is the best kind of light to play with and to bring forth and enhance during post-production. Mood can be present without the sun; sometimes it is the promise of sun rather than the sun itself that creates the mood or potential.

What "tools of the trade" do you often use?

I don't really use a lot of high tech equipment, as I am never looking for a pin-sharp result. My work is not about portraying what is, so much as what might be, so I have no need for top of the range gear. For a lot of my work I use a Tokina F8 mirror lens. It is very light to travel with and use, I can hand hold it for the most part and it gets me really close to my subjects, most of whom are very camera shy. Despite being difficult to use the lens flattens perspective beautifully, blows out the background and gives me sharp enough results without being too sharp.

For friendlier subjects I use a 75-300 zoom or a 50mm f1.8. I am a fan of shooting wide open; wide-open apertures muddy the details and take the lens away form it's perfectly sharp sweet-spot but also allow me to shoot hand held. (I hate tripods).

Can you tell us about "Captive"? What is the story behind this work?

It's is a romanticized notion, an idea; the thought or feeling rather than the reality - the romantic perception. We find ourselves as captive as they are.

You emphasize "giving aesthetic value where none appears apparent". Why did you decide to explore and expose this philosophy?

I'm interested in the idea of perceptions and how changing a perception gives or takes away value. For instance, people will pay to go to a zoo to look at exotic animals and yet, they will drive right past sheep. One thing is perceived to have value and one does not. And yet the real value lies in the sheep. They used to have a value, we recognized that value, but now we don't, we drive past. So the challenge is to recognize the aesthetic value that is not overtly recognized and capture that, to see if a new (or old) perception can be recognized.