Snowshoe, 2026
Milkweed, 2026
Strike, 2026
Untitled (Bird in Flight), 2025
Untitled (Corn), 2025
Untitled (Two Frogs), 2026
Crumble, 2025
Heliopsis, 2025
Untitled (Saw-whet), 2026
Tip, 2025
Goldenrod, 2025
Blind, 2025
Untitled (Pear), 2025
Trace, 2025
Shatter, 2025
Hacksaw, 2026
Bait, 2026
Untitled (Camper), 2026
Large archival pigment prints on Bamboo Paper
Statement on Torch:
In Torch, I ask the viewer to engage with the natural environment on a human-animal level; to reckon with how we exist within the landscape, and our own inevitable impact upon it. Humans are, and have remained, inextricable from the land. This relationship is likewise mirrored by photographer and photograph. An image always bears the marks of its maker, just as the landscape bears the marks of its inhabitants.
I have borrowed the methods and language of historical press and documentary photography. A bright flash reveals every detail, and yet is totally artificial. It is a small fiction; a contrived way of seeing; a human engagement of the environment. Subject matter engages with this as well, often showing seemingly organic scenes that in reality could not exist without human interference. I also ask the viewer to wonder how their perceptions of the landscape are changed in the depth of night, and what this says about our role in the landscape.
I work slow. I shoot medium and large formats with cameras never meant to leave a studio. I fill the pockets of an old army jacket with all my film holders, flashes, and lights. My heavy tripod is slung across my back, and a workshop spotlight hangs off my belt. I move awkwardly, hands full and body encumbered. I am essentially stuck in one place once I set up a shot. For a moment or so, I am at the mercy of the landscape.
Sometimes, when it's time to make the exposure, I open the shutter and walk away to fire the flash. I am then immersed in complete darkness, counting paces– I briefly become an ordinary inhabitant of the landscape, going about my business like a deer foraging. Then a blinding light explodes out of the hunk of plastic in my hand, and a few seconds later I return to my pile of stuff.
The name Torch evokes the literal handheld object of fire and light, man’s first tool to liberate himself from the darkness. For an instant, the camera’s flash recalls this light. It illuminates the foreground and fades into the night. It creates a drama - trees and foliage assume roles like actors against a black velvet curtain; presented especially for human eyes. Impressions of the landscape taken for human consumption.