I've been toting cameras since my early teens. While my classmates in high school were preening for the prom, I was in a darkroom swishing Ilford photo paper through trays of Dektol, stop bath and fixer. It turns out my career led me elsewhere (engineering) but I never lost interest in photography and always took care to have camera and film handy whenever I traveled more than a few miles from home.

My particular interests in photography have changed over the years, ranging from "people-centered" work (eg., yearbook photographer in high school) to landscape and scenic photography in my current work.

Photography is primarily an avocation for me, and also the basis of a modest moonlighting business (as of 1999) which I pursue through occasional arts and crafts shows, a small booth at a shop in Rockport, MA, and this web site.

While my photos are captured by thoroughly traditional means, the so-called digital darkroom is essential to the production and presentation of my work. I haven't chosen this route because it's cheap or easy, but because it affords the greatest control over the detail, color, and composition of the final prints.

Concerning the subject matter... I have a deep love of oceans, mountains and the backcountry, and that, above all, is what I hope to express in those images. At other times, my interest is drawn to objects, structures, and artifacts that humans have created. In addition, there are a few montages and synthetic images, expressing no particular reality other than the marvelous stuff one can do with a computer and a bit of imagination.

At the end of the day, what matters is that the overall process brings pleasure to artist and audience alike. A day on the trail with my cameras leads to several evenings of scanning, editing in Photoshop, printing on my Epsons, and posting to this web site. There's always a new angle to explore, both in the process and the images themselves. It's a pleasant combination of fresh air, technology, art, and learning. Who could ask for more?

Raphael Bustin
dba Terrapin Photo