Artist Statement
I am interested in capturing a hidden reality through my photography. It's not just smiles and pretty places. People and places convey far more emotions, often unseen. My photography expands beyond self-expression, but into self-definition. It is how I see the world and the people in it. My work is often dark and stemming from influences, and experiences, and will often incorporate subtle and sometimes rich metaphors . In addition to the content, the mood and tones add to the metaphors of life. I create in both digital and film formats and will often blend the two together.
I am currently working on several bodies of work. My primary project is a photo essay tittled “Long Summer Days” follows my relationship with my daughter, Haley, as a stay at home father. We live in a small urban community in a small home; however, in a world full of technology, video games, and electronics, we chose a device free lifestyle for her. Haley is at the age where she is developing her strong personality and it is all these elements in which I am capturing and documenting. This body of work disrupts stereotypes of girls while highlighiting her delightfully unselfconscious strength, independence, defiance, and playfulness.
My Story
I was born in Eastern Oregon and moved to the Willamette Valley at a young age, where I grew up in Albany and graduated high school at West Albany High School. In my Junior year in high school, I was pleased to be accepted through a juried selection to Oregon State University's JumpstART a summer precollage art camp for talented high school students. It was at this camp that I was introduced to fine art photography and darkroom processes. I instantly fell in love with photography and shot film through my college years.
I attended Linn-Benton Community College and earned two Associate Degrees, one in Graphic Design and the other in Digital Imaging and Prepress Technologies. After college, I transitioned into digital photography but placed my focus on graphic design, silk screening, and painting, while continuing to shoot digital on a small personal scale.
It wasn't until my wife and I had our daughter and I was laid off from my graphic design job at Hewlett Packard that I rediscovered myself as a photographer. I then transitioned back into film, yet held on to digital format as well. I built a darkroom at my home next to my fathers art studio and switch back and forth between the two mediums (digital and film). I have been blending the two mediums together and trying to use the best aspects of both mediums at the same time. I would love for my next adventure in photography to be exploring alturnative processes, both in shooting photos and printing them.