Photograph made by Jim (The Great) Galli.

Phil Kember started out as a professional musician at the age of 15, he spent many years traveling and working in Europe and  the west coast of America. He discovered photography in 1996.

"I had a camera when I was a kid, but never thought about doing anything serious with it. In the summer of 96 I was looking for a hobby, something to do with my free time. I had an old Pentax from when I was about 14, so I dusted it off, put some batteries in it and headed out to my favorite place...the desert. I really enjoyed my new found past-time and soon decided to travel to various places with the camera. My first stop was Yosemite in the fall of 96, I had never been to the park before. The experience of Yosemite and the camera was life changing for me, I knew right away that this was what I would do for the rest of my life, I also knew that as much as I loved Yosemite it would not be the place for me to concentrate my efforts. In my mind Yosemite has been recorded thoroughly by the best...Ansel Adams.

My love has always been the desert, so it wasn't long before I was out photographing around the southern California desert region. I remembered a trip I had made in June of 1985, to Death Valley. My only memory of the place was that it was hot and desolate. In the Winter of 96/97 I went to Death Valley with my camera, I continued to visit and photograph other places but it was always Death Valley I was drawn back to. By the time the summer of 97 came around Death Valley was my sole subject. It would remain so until I decided to look for a place to open a gallery. In June of 2002 I moved to Lone Pine California".

I spent five or six years living near Death Valley. Although it was very good to be so close to my subject, I found it difficult to live in the environment full time. I now live in Nevada City, California.

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