Welcome! I have some new black & white photo work and sculptures to show you, as well as a new publication to tell you about. If you're new to this website, there is a brief bio at the bottom of the page. Thank you for visiting, and please contact me with any questions or comments.
Temporary Truths
I'm excited to introduce "Temporary Truths," my journal of ideas and imagery. A paper counterpart to this website, it offers personal stories, poetry, and (of course) photos. I'd be happy to send you a free copy. Please e-mail your request, specifying whether you'd like the current issue (Feb/Mar '10, now available) or the next issue (Apr/May '10, out in the spring) sent to you. Be sure to include your mailing address!
Salisbury Beach in Black & White
Ever since I was in photography school in the mid '90s, I've been drawn to Salisbury Beach State Reservation to shoot. This Massachusetts place is equal parts beach and campground, and because of its location at the mouth of the Merrimack River, it has a lot of water frontage. In fact, it's surrounded by water on three sides—the Atlantic Ocean, the Merrimack River, and the fairly large Black Rock Creek—and it's possible to walk the entire shoreline. The variety of the water boundaries makes for great photo subject matter, but I also find the interior of dunes, grasses, marsh, and the campground area itself equally interesting. I actually never go there during the high season. All these years and I've never known it as its busy, summer self—only as its quiet, empty one. I've never seen more than a couple RV's in the vast campground, never passed more than a handful of people walking on the beach, never had to stop at the entrance to check in with the park staff. But thankfully, year-round the entrance remains open.
After some time away, I've again been taking my camera to Salisbury Beach State Reservation a lot in the last few months. Needless to say, it's very peaceful there in the late fall and throughout the winter. These photographs were selected from the work made during this time. All were shot with film and printed in my darkroom.
Photo-Sculptures
Almost from the beginning of my interest in sculpture five or so years ago, I liked the idea of involving photographs in it. Only recently did I try it, and even then it was one step removed from using the actual photos. Instead, I used photocopies of my photographs, and the reason is I wanted to use materials that had a short life. I just wanted to play with paper and lighten up a bit by making something I didn't need to protect because it wasn't meant to last in the first place.
This first one is made with photocopies of a starfish photogram run on wire around a wood shingle frame. I put crimps in the wire to hold each image in its general place, but they are free to move a bit and do rather easily, which adds a nice natural movement to the piece.
This next one is pure paper and a cross between sculpture and collage. Before I started construction, I had in my mind that I wanted a form with waves to it. I also wanted to use strips of images in a basketweave, but then right before I was about to begin making it, I thought of using (photocopies of) contact sheets instead. They give it the effect of the basketweave while providing a more interesting story by using lots of small individual images rather than pieces of larger ones.
Photograms
Photograms (like the six below) are made without the use of a camera or negatives. Rather, these one-of-a-kind prints are made by placing objects directly onto the photo paper and then exposing it to light. The paper is then processed in the chemicals as any other print. (Even though these images are not new, I decided to leave them up as examples of this method of making prints, since I mentioned photograms in the previous segment.)
About me
I graduated from the New England School of Photography in 1995 and have been creating, selling, exhibiting, and licensing my work ever since. Though I work mainly in black & white film photography, I also enjoy experimenting with alternative photo processes, as well as with other mediums, such as 3-D structure, poetry, and song.