I have a philosophy, which is: Photograph what you love first, then photograph what you don’t understand, then photograph what you don’t like. — William Clift

The gallery also has a rack full of affordable notecards bearing his photographs — these include dramatic images of Mont St. Michel and of Shiprock; photographic rhapsodies of New Mexico aspens, apple blossoms, canyons, and clouds; a photo of a landscape with a long fence leading toward Tetilla Peak; Room, O’Keeffe, rampant with shadows; the wonderfully enigmatic Somebody’s House, Maryland; and the gorgeous White House Ruin, Canyon de Chelly, 1975. He pointed out that Ansel Adams, Timothy O’Sullivan, and other photographers typically zeroed in on a section of that scene that holds the ruins. “I was always interested in the bigger picture.”

There are also photos of Georgia O’Keeffe and her assistant Juan Hamilton. “That was at her house in Abiquiú. Here’s one that has Juan’s son and his wife. I was up there from about about 1977 to 1984, off and on, photographing his sculpture and her house. She was so intelligent and so excited, and she just adored Juan, and he adored her. I tried to be a friend of Juan’s, because I liked him. But I didn’t want to be her employee, or his. It allowed me freedom to fail, and that’s an important thing,” Clift said, segueing into what can be interpreted as a characteristically self-deprecating tone, although he will insist he’s simply being honest. “You know, you don’t really know what you’re doing — and you don’t want to charge if you’re not a photographer who knows what he’s doing. I can’t just go out and take a good picture. I don’t have a schtick or a style that I can apply to everything I photograph.”

Reminded of the approximately 130 stunning, original images in the Mont St. Michel-Shiprock book, he said, “But I was there, off and on, for 38 years. I took 400 pictures. I have a philosophy, which is: Photograph what you love first, then photograph what you don’t understand, and then photograph what you don’t like. If you photograph what you

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