My photographic work is populated with architectural ghosts. Through the medium of large-format prints, I try to evaluate the strange dissonances of the forgotten urban landscape by focusing on places of abandonment, places that exist tenuously in a state of decay. The artifacts in these photographs can comprise a rich and compelling archaeology of loss and discreetly suggest a visual compression of time, memory and the past. The images address issues of transition and history, but they’re also concerned with the role of the human witness in environments where intention has been replaced by accident; this happens as we relinquish what has been so carefully made, allowing us to review the allegorical richness disclosed within a hidden world of remnants.

The digital collage series springs from my background in making assemblages from found objects. The advent of digital technology has allowed me to combine this background with my love of photography. The medium is also informed by my profession as a filmmaker, which is, essentially, obtaining and assembling the parts necessary to make a coherent whole. My hope is that viewers will find their own way into the image and discover a personal resonance there; that they will see beyond the objects depicted and find a meaning within themselves.

Ripples

Energy can be changed from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed – First Law of Thermodynamics

When we watch dancers moving through space, we are struck by both science and alchemy, by the real and imagined. As embodiments of physical laws, dancers constantly convert one form of energy into another – from stasis to movement and back again – oscillations or waves of air and light. As alchemists, dancers make evident what is hidden from us – turning dreams into realities, and back again into dreams – turning matter into spirit.

What does the camera lens capture? How does a still image suggest movement? Perhaps the photographic image connects with our inner eye, tapping into our dreams whenever we take the time to look, ever so closely.

"more than meets the eye"

Inspired by a space, I photograph it segment by segment from various vantage points. Next, I arrange and rearrange the images until a new coherence emerges. Finally, I paint, blurring the borders between photos. The initial photo-collage is transformed by the act of painting, into a pictorial space where weird transitions and subtle spatial anomalies emerge. This new space is not just a record of what we see while moving in space over time, but includes elements that have appeared as if from beyond the customary four dimensions. One catches sight of details not visible in the original space: details suggestive of the extra dimensions posited in contemporary theoretical physics. This pictorial rendering of space is not just a composite of things we see as we move through space and time. It also offers glimpses of what may actually exist around us that we do not see.

To make each composite photo I shoot more than 100 digital images, completing up to a 360-degree view. I then put them together into a single image using Photoshop. The resulting high-resolution images can be printed 3-feet by 9-feet, retaining all detail. I shoot with available light and record the landscape or interior in about 10 minutes. To create my series on artists in their studios, I first show the artist a portfolio of photos of other artists and studios that I've recorded. The artist is free to arrange their space before and while I take photos, thus becoming a collaborator and entering the photo. The artist sets the scene and allows their imagery and image to be re-visioned into a new artwork.

My eyes are drawn to the graphic elements of my subjects. A plant series starts a study of a line. The focus may grow to include textures or layers. I am inspired by people who see something and then recreate it in a painting, sharing their unique interpretations. The Camera allows me to reveal views of the world overlooked by others. The photographs are my paintings.

These photos are from Women in Transition: Stillness in Action, a series that examines subtle transitions in the lives of Balinese women. The project was a natural outgrowth of the changes in my own life at the time. During the changes that happen constantly in our lives, there is a still point where the differences between the before and after states co-exist visually. This is the moment I am trying to photograph.

My goal has been to photograph people in a way that transcends the documentary. But within a tradition that doesn’t allow for anything set up, I am most interested in that elusive instant when a confluence of light, color, composition and moment sparks a reaction in the viewer. My method is intuitive, and although I’m responding to external visual cues, I’m also reacting to aspects of soul manifested through light. In my view, spirit expresses itself in the physical world through light and sound. When I photograph, or “write with light,” my aim is to capture the truest reflection possible of that original source in my subjects. I hope that the photograph itself will serve as a vehicle for spirit so the viewer can recognize his own god-like qualities and common humanity.