2024
at the place of the green bubbling hot springs
Recently, I’ve been dealing with a long term health issue and it was highly suggested I take some time away from work, and even where I live, to essentially reset my body and mind. I took the advice of doctors and decided to go to a hot springs resort in New Mexico. Baths and water have always had a healing effect on me so staying at this place sounded like an excellent fit. Knowing this, though, I also knew I’d have a unique opportunity to make photographs. And while I set aside most of the time to relax and regain some mental stability, I segmented a portion to create with Madeline, a model based in the same state. While visiting, I learned about the local history; how the location came to be. Originally settled by ancestral Native Pueblo peoples, it was called “Posi” or “P'oseuinge” which translates to “village at the place of the green bubbling hot springs.” Quite often, places like this have been taken over by Americans and turned into businesses earning millions of dollars when it was once enjoyed by all, for free. While many people who visit may relish in the history, I always feel conflicted utilizing a place with incredible history that has been changed largely due to capitalism. Participating in this system is something I tend to find troubling. I need utilize it to “survive” but I have no interest in taking full advantage of it. In these situations, where I’m attempting to do something positive for my health, I can at the very least address and acknowledge the history and land I’m using for my benefit. This new series is titled “At the Place of the Green Bubbling Hot Springs” in recognition of this location, the native Pueblo peoples that came here long before me, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to utilize and create something positive. I did leave feeling more optimistic about my body, both physically and mentally. While many of the photographs in the series were made using the water, I did create a few just outside of it creating a balance. I also knew I didn’t want to do anything fully immersed underwater. That’s a style I’ll leave to other photographers, many of which excel at it. So we weaved in and out of a private hot spring, utilizing fabric in some situations, wetting the fabric in others, and using no fabric for a few. I didn’t want to rely solely on the water and its effect it has. I wanted to be able to provide contrast to the series, creating in several different situations. I’m also including something I’ve never added to a series before— an oil painting (#8). For the past year or so, I’ve been teaching myself to paint through trial and error. I’ve always wanted to learn but I never took the time to do it. So, for the first time, I’m showing an original oil painting as part of the series. I’ve been sitting on some for quite some time, never believing they were good enough to show. The time has come for me to put them into the world. But as always, my goal with the photographs I make is to make them feel like paintings. I enjoy walking a line between photography and painting and, at least in some photographs, you second guess whether it’s a painting or not. This particular series features 8 photographs and 1 oil painting and I’m extremely proud of the results. I feel I utilized the springs in a unique way where had I not mentioned them being what they are, it’d be nearly impossible to tell. Hot springs tend to be photographed in a certain way and my goal was to not fall back on that method.
2023
in the light of the burning world
Understandably lucky to be born a white male into a white family in America, which is essentially all that truly separates me from any human in any country, just a bit of chance, I am fully aware of the safety and freedoms I am able to take part in, including practicing photography. In times such as these, while we drown in an endless stream of content, vitriol, hate, greed, and merchandise it’s often challenging to find the surface to catch a breath of air. And in just stating that I am afforded that opportunity to swim to the surface, is not lost on me. I participate in global events when possible but the desire to, no, the need to, create is exceedingly important to me. It is my personal liberation, my personal freedom (a philosophical debate in itself), my path to some kind of understanding. There are moments to grasp; to hold on to while your surroundings collapse. I am given opportunities others do not have and I do my best to make the most of them. This process, of making a photograph, of collaborating and creating with others is how I choose to make sense of everything, and even make something, hopefully engaging to not only myself, but to others, in the light of the burning world.
The fourteen photographs in this series were made in collaboration with Rachel in two different regions of the Pacific Northwest over two sessions, each separated by one year, almost to the day.
2023
rodin
Years ago I visited the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, a sister museum to Paris’s version. But it wasn’t Rodin’s art that I was truly inspired by, it was the model and the poses and positions they put themselves in to allow Rodin to create. I left that museum thinking more about the model/s than I did about the art.
Rodin’s main model was Camille Claudel. Claudel was an incredible sculptor in her own right and it was when she apprenticed for Rodin that he began to predominantly use her as a model. There’s a lot more to that story and I encourage you (if interested) to spend some time reading about it. I’m not an expert on either of them, but you don’t have to be one to realize how much Claudel inspired Rodin’s work. As a photographer who works mainly with models, usually one per series, I fully understand the importance of collaboration. Without the model, I don’t have a photograph. And while I am in charge of directing and working the camera, they are still a massive part of each session. I’ve had the opportunity to work with many outstanding people, mainly regular people lending their body to model, that have contributed greatly to a photograph and subsequent series. Whether it’s a suggestion on their part, the way they moved or stood, or placed themselves over a rock, many of them played a large role. It’s hard not to imagine Claudel contributed greatly to Rodin’s work and after seeing so many unique and odd poses in Rodin’s pieces, I was inspired to create a small series around those poses.
2022 - 2023
suspended
This photographic series delves into the topics of depression and suicide, in a visual form. There are no sensational or upsetting photos, only the reference of an upsetting topic.
‘Suspended,’ originally created in 2022 as a series of nine photographs, explores depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and the nuances that set us apart from each other. In each photograph, the person (body) remains anonymous while the silk fabric represents the subtle changes and characteristics that define each of us. The subject being in mid-air, jumping, represents the act of suicide, something I have thought about numerous times in the past. Six new photographs created in 2023 are the additions to the series and are included in the gallery.
If you are experiencing similar thoughts and seek help, please text HOME to 741741 from anywhere in the United States, anytime.
Tenebrosity; A&B
2022-2023