PHOTOGRAPHY

My first camera was a 1959 Pentax K1000, which I used to learn B&W photography while studying abroad in London in 2003. I lost track of days and time in the darkroom learning how to process, burn, dodge, and print. Perhaps the toughest lesson learned was how to let go of the image I expected to come away with, even if I felt I had put the time in. Once I understood that, even screwing up a potentially perfect photograph felt romantic and purposeful. I loved the process, and the discipline and patience it demanded. While digital has it's obvious benefits, I feel incredibly lucky to have learned film when I did.

I am most drawn to reoccurring themes and patterns, and love when I photograph something in my own backyard, and then travel to the other side of the world only to find a slightly different variation of the same thing. It blows me away, makes me smile, and humbles me. It connects the dots. I am constantly looking for the subtle things that connect us to our environments and ultimately to each other. My overall goal with my work would be to emphasize how alike we all are rather than calling out our differences.

DRAWING

The drawing process happened later, and dots seemed to take over. I stipple until something appears on it's own. The fun in the process is that there is no process, and with the "Nonsense World" series, the figures seem to look different to everyone. The more you look at an image, the more variation you start to see. Sometimes you can't even tell in which direction a figure is facing. I love being able to go into a drawing without having expectations of what the viewer should see. I can show the same image to a group of 5+ people and each person will likely see different things.