Die Nebenweld

The “real” world is only one of the many ways available to us for understanding and communicating our experiences.  These images lead us to the other side of a looking glass, and back again, revealing relationships of tonality and form that, while implicit in the subjects, are effectively hidden from most of us by the ways we’ve evolved and learned to navigate the world.

The elusive story that these pictures tell is one of an alien world, just next-door, that I hope will provide for others, as it does for me, some revelatory illumination of our own.

Preserving Nature in the City: A Daily Walk Around Jamaica Pond

Every morning I walk around Jamaica Pond with my camera in one hand and my dog in the other.  What started as a daily walk has become my morning meditation and reflection on the role nature has played in my life.   Each day I observe young and old alike walk, run, read, fish, sail, play music and relax along the Pond’s edges.  As I walk around the Pond I encounter unexpected wonders of nature such as bald eagles, blue herons, turtles and swans.

Jamaica Pond exists within the City of Boston at the intersection of stately mansions, family homes, triple-deckers, condominiums and apartments.  The winding Jamaica Way that surrounds the Pond was built for horses not automobiles so there are traffic jams caused by those rushing to and from work.  Drivers honk, folks ride bicycles and pedestrians walk to their destination within view of the 68-acre Jamaica Pond, which is largest body of water within the City of Boston.

Jamaica Pond offers a refuge from busy lives and access to nature within the City. This project highlights our shared responsibility to protect natural spaces within urban environments, and the hope that future generations will benefit from the wonders of the Pond.

Structure and Solitude 

Like a moth to flames, I find that I’m drawn to photographing abandoned structures. I’m not totally sure why, but I think the attraction comes from my speculations on what might have happened at these spots, on the stories that may have unfolded there. Additionally, I find solitude in the structures’ abandonment, and in today’s hustle and bustle, I find that solitude is a valuable commodity.

This collection of photographs represents my recent travels across the United States where I have looked for abandoned structures. Included in my hunting spots are: The Erie Canal, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Delaware Water Gap, and Shenandoah National Park.

It is my pleasure to share “Structure and Solitude” with you.

Botanical Portraits

The natural world—whether in the wild or near urban settings—is the focus of my photographic work. Photography connects me to the natural world in an intimate and immediate way and anchors me. I feel an emotional connection to the living things I photograph.

Wandering out of doors is an energizing and joyful endeavor for me, as is the making of photographs to share revelatory discoveries with others. I am personally motivated by the belief that the love and appreciation of our living planet can lead to the protection of its environment.

In these botanical photographs, I isolate a small piece of nature to reveal its uniqueness. They are visual descriptions, or portraits, that emphasize the special qualities of the subject through the details of color, texture, rhythm, and form, without distractions.  As “studies” depicting the individuality of particular varieties of plants, they enhance our appreciation of a striking world up close that might go unnoticed from a distance.

Chelmsford Noir

Chelmsford Noir is a nighttime photographic exploration of my current home town of Chelmsford, MA. With a nod to the milieu created by some of Edward Hopper’s work, I photograph familiar places—many of them quotidian subjects like the rear of commercial buildings and the windows of stores and houses—allowing the artificial light and stark shadows to present the familiar in literally a different light.

Seeing You, Seeing Me

Seeing You, Seeing Me is a photographic collaboration between my 21-year-old daughter, Leah, and me.  She is in front of the camera, while I stay behind it.  However, in our images we share the roles of observer and participant.  In these pictures, I see myself at her age while simultaneously imagining her as an adult: I also, see her seeing into the future while she observes me behind the lens in my new role as a photographer.

This project has allowed me to slow time with intent.  In front of the camera, I pose Leah along with personal artifacts and articles of mine.  In doing so, I image the traditions and morals that I have imbued in her.

Inspired by Dutch artists, particularly Vermeer, and books of my childhood such as Jane Eyre and Little Women, I attempt to create timeless and romanticized portraits that capture a fleeting and pivotal moment in time – the still of life as she stands on the cusp of adulthood.

More Than Words

My calling card is a camera, one that opens doors to the unexpected, revealing the magnificent characteristics of humanity. It brings me into ‘off main street’ small urban spaces, full of inherent beauty, and helps me start conversations that translate into a personal portrait of people’s surroundings and lives.

More Than Words is a series of photographs that invite the viewer into the conversation to discover and reinterpret their own idea of beauty and humanity.

In this, the first part of the project, my focus is on the gracefulness of spaces and structures in the southern New Hampshire towns where I live, work, and photograph.  As the project continues, it will grow from a conversation about sense of place to reframe itself as a photographic expression of the relationships I have formed with the people who, along with me, call these surroundings home.

Dust on Embroidery

Hesitation, then

I open the door

To greet not anymore

Remember the last time, you said

“This is the room where grandmother died

Now, I am here”

 

I am here now

And I see what you saw

Small things, hope in vain

Your dust on embroidery

Nothing is left

Only this moment

With the changing life

Shining on the table

Not Just Dirt: The Belmont Victory Gardens at Rock Meadow

I first encountered the Belmont Victory Gardens looking for a new walk with my family and dog. The idea of tightly packed, fenced community garden plots intrigues me – given I come from the world of large-scale farming, where fields are not measured in yards, but rather in unfenced miles. For me, the Gardens and their environs are a ‘micro’ landscape. They encourage me to take a more intimate look at our relationship to the land:  our tools, its seasons, our cultivation and its produce.

“A garden is a complex of aesthetic and plastic intentions; and the plant is, to a landscape artist, not only a plant – rare, unusual, ordinary or doomed to disappearance – but it is also a color, a shape, a volume or an arabesque in itself.”

Roberto Burle Marx, Landscape Architect and Artist

 

Visiting Impermanence

While photographing in Prince Edward Island, I was struck by a sign that read that the shoreline was disappearing at a rate of 1 meter per year. During that same trip, I was also struck by the thought that I am ephemeral and, like the landscape, will eventually disappear. This work explores the impermanence of both the seemingly permanent landscape and me, through long-exposure self-portraits set in areas that are experiencing high levels of erosion. My images are printed on vellum and I apply a gold leaf behind them. Through this process, I capture and present the value of the landscape and its permeability.