Peter Dombrovskis

"The pursuit of photography and the experience of wilderness are uneasy companions. We go to the wilds to reaffirm our place in the natural scheme of things, to be rejuvenated by contact with elemental forces and to be reminded that the civilised bagage with which we complicate our lives is perhaps not so important to our happiness as the advertising man would claim.

Therefore, when my rucksack is already straining at the seams with the essentials of food, shelter and clothing, is seems folly indeed to add a metal box crammed with mechanical, optical and electronic gadgetry. How then do I justify my vocation? For wilderness demands answers from all who travel there.

Photography is, quite simply, a means of communicating my concern for the beauty of the Earth; and making images is a need which sometimes borders on the compulsive. But without the opportunity for communication that photography offers, my journeys into the wild would perhaps lose some of their motivation. And here lies a paradox, because the more preoccupied I become with photography and with producing 'results', the less productive becomes my vision. The more open and receptive I am to find those objects of beauty that are symbols of the mysterious and unknowable. The search is always more important than the goal. When the images of nature become more important than the experience of wilderness it will be time to leave my camera at home."

- Peter Dombroviskis, Author's comment, from Peter's 1985 Wilderness Diary