I have been very blessed to be able to travel both in the states and abroad. I love to photograph as many ordinary scenes that are part of the landscape of a given region as possible. This allows me a vast collection of raw material to draw from when a creative spark strikes.

This particular afternoon, I was strolling the streets of San Francisco trying to capture this fleeting scene of the trolley cars as they made their way up and down the rolling hills of the crowded city streets. Although this is a very familiar sight to the locals, in my mind’s eye I could envision a completely different landscape. The composition I was envisioning is known as dynamic symmetry; where converging lines point to a predominant subject. In this incidence, I planned to concentrate on replacing the white van in the lower left corner with my desired subject.

The next assignment was for me to find the subject of interest. I continued to meander down the street where soon I observed a lady carrying a red umbrella. Unfortunately, the umbrella lacked sufficient lighting. This problem was quickly resolved once she walked under a hotel marquee which provided the perfect illumination. CLICK! I knew instantly a beautiful San Francisco landscape was born.

Once I returned home I began the process of marrying the two photographs together into one image. Then I removed or softened any kind of distractions, such as the scaffolding and newspaper stand. Since the scene was taken in the late afternoon, I further enhanced the lighting to create a night-time effect; as well as, light the lantern near the red umbrella. Overall, I used a very impressionistic style of painting to minimize the distractions and emphasize my subject and landscape, thus creating: The Red Umbrella. It continues to be one of my personal favorites and has received numerous awards.