The Novel
In 2020 my wife took a job running a summer camp so we moved to the woods of Southern Alabama. Living on property at the camp, in the country's largest long-leaf pine forest, we had no phone service, intermittent internet, and lived over an hour from a city with any real industry. Needless to say, my options for employment were limited. Then the pandemic hit. During this lull, I found myself reading an extraordinary amount of fantasy novels. I loved them. Couldn't get enough of them, but when I put a novel down I didn’t want the story to be over. So, I began to write a story of my own.
I conceived of a story that would span books, create competing cultures, and grow countless characters. I developed a loose plan, created a private wiki to keep track of all the details, and began to write. Two years later I finished my first novel, which I am currently seeking to publish. Writing this novel was the single most influential creative project of my life. I learned what true dedication is. What it means to write, work, and create when it's the last thing you want to do. I honed my ability to envision and hold in my mind vastly complex ideas. I learned to take a story and turn it around in my mind, taking it apart and putting it back together to make sure all the pieces fit. I learned what it means to truly tell a story, what drives a character, what makes them tick, and what engages an audience.
Though I spent two years "unemployed" only doing intermittent freelance creative work. It was the most productive, creative years of my life, and I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world.
Photo Book
This photo book was the first full-scale art project that I brought from conception to finished product all on my own. In the summer after my sophomore year of college, I went on a cross-country road trip with a few friends. We visited seven national parks and camped in some incredible places. However, I spent much of that trip battling with ongoing depression and had a hard time enjoying it.
I returned from the trip with a collection of images that were too important to me to just toss on social media and a whole host of complex thoughts and feelings that I wasn’t sure how or where to share. So, I decided to create a photo book.
The final product is a lay-flat, thick-paged photo book with crisp images of breathtaking views. I wrote prose embodying my feelings from the trip and embedded them into the images They are as much a part of the image as my experience of them.
Photography
Writing is my first love, but photography is my mistress. I've traveled all over the world doing my best to capture the essence of a moment through imagery. I've flown drones, used a phone, and a DSLR, and shot underwater. I've used both digital and film and must say I've come to prefer film's authenticity.
In all my creative work I aim "to not look away" but to invite the world in. I think I do this most fully through my writing. But there are moments when I have managed it with the lens.
Here are a few of those moments. I hope you enjoy.
