Many photographers hope to find their unique style. I strive to shoot a wide variety of subjects and haven't thought too much about trying to define my own style of photography.

Yet, over the past few weeks two viewers have used the word "apocalypse" to define my style of photography. I'm not sure whether to be insulted or flattered!

One viewer pointed out that just 2 of the 103 photographs displayed from my last photo trip include people in the frame. Click here to view that set of images.

The reason for the lack of people in the frames is that the primary subject matter during this trip was architecture and nature. In fact, it usually requires a great deal of patience to wait for the scene to clear of people while shooting large interior spaces such as churches or capitol buildings. With wildlife, people aren't likely to be in the same frame as a grizzly bear or gray wolf!

My intention is to only include people in the frame is they belong there. In the following image of the bronze grizzly bear in front of the Governor's office in the California State Capitol, I wanted to include the guard. Governor Jerry Brown was in his office and I thought that the guard added interest to the scene. In my first exposures of this scene, the guard was trying to be courteous and was standing just outside of the frame. So, I have several photographs of the scene without the guard. Later, when the guard entered the scene, I captured more exposures and selected this one as a keeper.

Schwarzenegger bearOfficer stands outside the Governor's office next to a statue of an 800-pound bronze grizzly bear that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger loaned to Governor Jerry Brown. Photo captured at the California State Capitol building at 1315 10th Street in Sacramento, California on August 13, 2013.

In this next image of a yellow escalator in the Seattle Central Public Library, I waited until people entered the frame before pressing the shutter. I didn't think the escalator itself was an interesting enough subject to warrant an exposure without the people.

Yellow escalatorA woman takes a picture of a man on a yellow escalator at the Seattle Central Library building at 1000 4th Avenue in Seattle, Washington on August 3, 2013. Looking at my entire portfolio, there's no question that I favor landscapes, wildlife and nature photographs over portraits or other images of people. I suppose maybe I do have an apocalyptic style!