I came of age in a little mining town in Southeastern Utah, dumb as a box of rocks, surrounded by some of the world's most uplifting scenery. Early on I became spoiled by solitude and enamored of wide open spaces. In college I majored in English, and in spite of my degree was able to land a job as a lifeguard at a mountain resort, where I earned $1.40 per hour and saved exactly one person from drowning. It was the best job I ever had.

Oh, wait! I once worked in television, in the days before television hadn't yet become a complete waste of time. And then for many years I wrote for magazines, before advertising overtook content and style triumphed over substance. I've earned some money with my camera, but not nearly as much as I would have earned had I been able to convince myself that formal group shots are worth the bother. For some perverse reason I'm drawn to photographing subjects who would never dream of paying me. And because they won't come into the studio, I have to go out and hunt them down like the wild animals they are.

In 2005 I finally sold a book about my travels in the Great Basin, a place I like to go because it's not crowded and no one there ever asks to see my credentials. You can have your celebrities and movie stars. I prefer ordinary working stiffs, oddballs, misfits and dreamers--the more impossible the dream, the better.