AL: The water–the ocean–provides imagery for many of your photos. Can you explain your attraction to the water? What makes it interesting for you to return to?

MM: Water is the very foundation of life on earth and what sustains us. 70% of our bodies are water.     It is a nourishing and life bringing force. However, water can also be terrible and destructive.  This juxtaposition fascinates me.

When I look at running water, I picture the eroded sandstone of the desert, or the jagged cliffs of Northern California, or a video from the 2016 Tsunami. Water is simultaneously the gentle rain that sustains life, or the pounding force that sculpts solid rock and takes life with no distinction. 

I find myself drawn to take pictures of water because although it is made of the same two things, it holds within it the seeds of almost unlimited potential. Every wave is different. Every splash plays out in its own unique pattern.  t’s a bit trite to point out that every snowflake is different, but it’s also true. 

AL: You also apply digital editing to some of your photos. Can you explain a little bit of your process here? Do you tend to like one version of a particular photo as a “final copy” or do you keep making changes in more of an ongoing process?

MM: My editing process is different for every photo, but there are several commonalities. I begin with the original image and run it through photoshop to adjust the basic parameters, clarity, saturation etc. My main goal in this phase is to preserve the image’s linear integrity while at the same time blending the color lines a bit.

If I like the way the processed image looks enough, then I take the edited photo and abstract it using several mirroring apps, either turning it into fractals or grid lines or numerous combinations of both. My goal in this phase is to preserve the colors of the image.

The last part is to combine all these images, sometimes as many as 7, into one. My goal here is to combine the abstract images – visual concepts of randomness, chaos, and unbending order, harmoniously back into the original picture.  Nature does it; I figured I might as well try to as well.     

I do aim to produce a final copy, at least as far as one image goes. As far as possible combinations of all the various images I create out of the one original, I never feel like I have exhausted all the possibilities, and oftentimes have to force myself to delete the files, or spend hours upon hours trying out various combinations.   

AL: Do you tend to have a more organized and planned approach to your creative work, or a more intuitive and spontaneous approach?

MM: The idea of an organized approach to creativity is a lovely one, but sadly one I have not been too successful at putting into practice. When I set out to take pictures of the ocean, or the desert, or whatever, I never take fewer than 250. Many times I spend more time deciding which one I want to use than I did taking them. 

That being said, once I have identified the image I want, I find that the rest of the process almost always flows very smoothly.  Each photograph provides a new opportunity, so each attempt has to intuitively follow the framework of the original, while spontaneously changing most of the details.

When the process does not flow smoothly it is because there is an aspect of the image that I have missed, be it a subtle symmetry between shadows or a more obvious linear/color alignment. Once I identify whatever that aspect is that is not adequately reflected back out of the abstractions, I am able to completely re envision the problem.    

AL: As our journal features literary as well as visual art, are there any authors or poets that are favorites for you? Anything goes here–classics to contemporary.

MM: I love poetry. Be it Shelley, Frost, Neruda, Kerouac, or a 1200 year old religious hymn. Poetry is my favorite medium to attempt to write letters to my wife in, as well as my favorite one to teach when I was in the classroom. Sharing the beauty of poetry as a teacher has been an awesome experience. 

As far as prose goes, Thomas Wolf, J.D. Salinger, and Mark Twain are my top three – one for beauty, one for cynicism, and one for wit. I seldom have time to read fiction. I spend most of my time reading things like Stephen Hawking, Brian Greene, or Isaiah Berlin. 

AL: What are you currently working on artistically? What are your goals for the upcoming year?

MM: I am constantly working to refine my abstraction techniques, as the potential is literally endless. However, I really would like to get into more urban photography. I am toying with the idea of   sitting on a San Francisco street corner, say Haight and Ashbury perhaps, for a few hours with my cousin, and photographing the passing life in all its amazing details and idiosyncrasies.