When I think of the young boy looking for frogs, turtles, tadpoles and adventure in a backyard creek in suburban Maryland, it is easy to make the connection to the adult who has traveled much of the world filming and photographing nature with a love and enthusiasm that has never abated. Throw in a little Mark Twain, Yogi Berra, Jonathan Swift and “Only Fools and Horses” and you see the man that now also loves words and humor, (or humour), especially satire. Traveling created a love of language. Presently based outside of Washington DC, in literally the most diverse community in the entire country, I am free to butcher a few words in a half dozen languages on a weekly basis and actually speak a couple.
Through my travels I developed a keen interest in learning about different countries and cultures. Given the above, it isn’t surprising that I married a Kenyan woman. I am probably the only guy on the block who had to negotiate how many cows to offer to his Kalenjin father-in-law for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Fortunately for me, it turns out that if you get the hand, the rest is thrown in for free, and I am proud to have the entire person as my wife.
I love being a father to my son Nick and despite what you might suspect, given his paternal role model, he is turning out to be quite an impressive young man.
My love for Earth’s inorganic beauty led to my passion for depicting visually the connection between rocks and minerals and human civilization. This obvious foundation of human existence is hard to overlook, although many seem to do so, which is why I find this work important. I can’t think of anything clever to say about this, but it’s really none of your Bismuth anyway.
I have always had an appetite for seeking truth in my own way. Like Frank Sinatra before me, “My way” often runs counter to the prevailing currents. In its best manifestations, I can be the one to raise unpopular questions that need raising. The worst cases of my contrarian nature have been known to lead to…well…. let’s just leave that alone. I love joking around and playing with words which sometimes goes down extremely well and other times not so much. At difficult times, like my hero Yogi Berra, I draw comfort from the fact that “I never said most of the things I said.”
At the top of my wish list for traits to possess are forgiveness, humility, gratitude and compassion. In order to explain the observed differences between my ideal and actual self, I must call upon Yogi’s words: “In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is.”
I love creating images and am heartened that some of my photographs and videos have helped to create a deeper appreciation for the natural world and the wisdom of conserving it, or so I’ve been told.