Earlier Work
Reality of Place - 2010
I am intrigued with how a person adapts to their environment; how they are absorbed and changed. I set about to
address this through a photographic photosynthesis in this body of work.
Having always been intrigued with various aspects of reality, I chose photography as the medium to help me reveal; obscure truths. Traditionally, photography was viewed as an honest replication of the real world. But, as we all know,
even from its inception, photographers used their medium to alter, accentuate and eliminate aspects of the “authentic”.As I deal with these issues, I’ve come to realize it is all about the landscape, the environment;
fitting in, disappearing, blending in, and perhaps, ultimately embracing.
Below is an abbreviated selection. Please email me if you are interested in receiving a PDF of the complete series.
Masking Reality - 2010
We all wear a mask of some sort or another; sometimes it is projected upon us by others; usually it is self administered.
I am intrigued with the mask as a symbol of absence; an absence of a hidden reality.
I set about using a mask in conjunction with “real” substances, objects and environments. I first determine what objects and environments provide the greatest opportunity for creating an hidden view of the world, then I set about to strengthen these elements by capturing my staged setups as digital photographs. I manipulate, layer, and alter each piece in my computer to “mask” the reality of the images from my camera. My choices along the way determine a level of absence that I then hope the viewer will experience based on their particular emotional makeup.
Below is an abbreviated selection. Please email me if you are interested in receiving a PDF of the complete series.
Escaping Reality - 2009
Reality is in the mind of the beholder. Are dreams real? Is what one sees, hears and feels real? Aren’t elements of the world flavored and altered by ones own emotional makeup and history?
With all of this in mind, I set out to create an alternate reality with “real” substances, objects and environments. I first determine what objects and environments have the most opportunity for creating an alternate view of the world, then I set about to strengthen the elements of reality by capturing my staged setups as digital photographs. I manipulate, layer, and alter each piece in my computer to “escape” the reality of the images from my camera. My choices along the way determine a level of escapism that I then hope the viewer will experience based on their particular emotional makeup.
Below is an abbreviated selection. Please email me if you are interested in receiving a PDF of the complete series.
Light Wait - 2008
(Waiting for the Light; Light (weight) as in levitation)
I am yearning for the unfamiliar rather than the known.
Photography can lead us astray; it can entice us into an uncanny realm. Using light, it allows us to see through the screen of reality to another reality beyond. Often my "beings" seem to levitate between two realities, bridging and separating at the same time. The stories I tell through photography are truthful or fictitious as need be as I search for the unique and the personal.
In this series I am engaging the human figure directly while allowing an enigmatic otherness to manifest itself. I am exploring the strange and complicated nature of being human in a natural world. While creating this work, I engaged metaphor and symbolism to suggest a story that is to be completed by the viewer.
Below is an abbreviated selection. Please email me if you are interested in receiving a PDF of the complete series.
Beneath The Surface - 2007
I don’t set out to make a specific image; rather, I choose physical elements and locations that I feel have a curious affinity for one another. I then purposefully, place these elements together in ephemeral assemblages. My goal is to cultivate unexpected visual references with the potential to surprise. I photograph these set ups, then, using my computer, I layer, alter and manipulate the raw photos as I search for the new images within.
Working digitally with my computer allows me to see in new ways; it affords me the opportunity of being surprised and inspired by the unexpected outcome.
In this exhibition, I bring together images I created to evoke animated beings; made up life forms with personality.
Below is an abbreviated selection. Please email me if you are interested in receiving a PDF of the complete series.
LANDeSCAPES - 2006
I am intrigued with parallel universes, space/time warps and other manifestations of altered, alternative realities. In these pieces, I have often used a mirror to reflect one direction in a landscape while photographing the other.
I stage my “landscapes” at the boundaries of differing scenic features such as natural/man-made, mountainous/desert, hillside/beach. In this way I am readily able to show two realities at once. In essence each image shows two points of view; I (as the documentarian) am located between these two views. Essentially, I am in the image (sandwiched between realities) yet not visible.
In some pieces I have digitally pierced the mirror to create a portal, a door, from one reality to the other. The resulting photos are then manipulated in my computer; recombined, layered, to best convey the duality of reality.
Below is an abbreviated selection. Please email me if you are interested in receiving a PDF of the complete series.
A Selection - 2006 - 2003
2006
2005
2004
2003
