Film Photography
Family Time (2019):
In Color (2018-2019):
Araby (2014):
The inspiration for the body of work came from figure drawings I had completed, as well as Edward Weston's form-focused photography. I find the human form fascinating and wanted to explore that close-up. Using natural light and a bed sheet on a concrete floor, I took two rolls of film of the model. These images were then printed on 11 x 14 RC paper. I chose to entitle this work Araby after James Joyce's short story. I was reading it while in Ireland-cliche, I know-and found the language so beautiful. The imagery Joyce used inspired this work and its naming. As values and lines blend in the abstracted forms, the images becomes sculptural. These sculpture is atypical of Renaissance works, as Michelangelo focused on aesthetic and perfection. They also contrast the modern idea of nude women: the meticulously sculpted models on billboards in their underwear.
Since Twelve (2014):
Since Twelve was taken during an artist's block. I struggled that week to pinpoint a concept, artist, text, or image to focus on, so I found myself wandering while I was shooting. I shot details in nature that excited me, and then shot humans in nature, studying the relationship. As I printed these images I saw connections, and as I lay them next to each other, I saw an exploration of my post-childhood. Since twelve, I have been searching for connections between humans and nature, asking the ever pressing, "Why are we here?" questions. This work attempts to grasp the string that ties us to the earth, a connection I was making subconsciously as I wandered through the woods.
Painting Andy Goldsworthy (2013):
When I began this body of work I was studying Andy Goldsworthy, and considering sculpture in the natural world. I shot a roll of film while walking in the woods one day, printed the images, and set them aside. Then I began experimenting with light painting, and found myself using the light to draw whatever I was looking at. Using a low shutter speed during the blue hour, I shot a roll of myself drawing the stream and its surrounding trees with a flashlight. Once these were printed, I found that they worked very nicely with my prints from the woods. To mount them, I painted warped boards of wood and adhered them with a matte gel glue.
Last Child in the Woods (2013):
With the saturation of images in the media today, kids are more likely to watch the screen than the stream. In the spring of my sophomore year, I found myself angered by the amount of toddlers with iPads, and decided to explore this. I read Richard Louv's The Last Child in the Woods, and found myself inspired by the poems that preceded each chapter. I had recently won a poetry prize for a poem about children on a farm, so I chose to incorporate both my words and the words from the poems chosen by Louv. I shot a few rolls of 35mm film, two of kids and one of text. By sandwiching negatives I was able to print these images. The combination of image and text allowed for the intensifying of the experience. The viewer would not have the same relationship with the photographs were they just the image, or just the text.